fate can be a cruel thing. Not taking the opportunity when it arises can be a cruel thing, despising those who have more is just as cruel and despising those that have less just as cruel again. I have had it all and lost it. I have lived with beggars and thieves and have dined with politcians... despised any of them ? ..never. I have been dealt out my cards and have tried to do the best I can do.. at times under trying circumstances, some people coped better, some people took their chances better than I did. I am satified with what I have done and still do... someone elses life is...exactly that ..their life, they do with it as they do

I find it interesting that you are looking at it from this perspective. I don't necessarily believe that people are dealt a particular hand and therefore that is the life they are destined to leave. Day after day I watch students in my classroom refuse to be educated, some are from wealthy families others are from extremely poor families. I also watch students from destitute families eagerly complete assessment tasks and achieve goals, when everything is, statistically, emotionally etc against them. Each year I see particular students, from both wealthy and poor families, make choices that make my blood boil. I see their "respectable" families throw their hands in the air and say they are over dealing with their children. (They then blame the school system, I am sure this is a shock to some people). In my classroom I choose to have high expectations, they are achieveable expectations, but they are high and I find that regardless to the "hand" these children have been dealt they will either choose to meet these expectations or not. Some of my most eager students are from hideous backgrounds. We are certainly dealt cards, but it is how you choose to play them that makes the difference.

not everyone can get a good paying job, but everyone can make a choice.

Sorry Jeff, I don't think its the hand we're dealt, but the way we play the hand. I have in the past been down on luck, drank too much, came close to falling on the wrong side of the ledger. But, upbringing, respect and knowing the differance between right and wrong has kept me in a good balanced life style.

We are all products of ourselves. A lot of the so-called low-lives come from caring and loving families, where every reasonable chance in life's lottery has been offered to them whilst on the other hand, a lot of successful, high lifers come from some of the most disadvantaged families that one could imagine. Parent/s in the main give life's lessons and standards to their children but in the end, the behavioual results are up to the individual.

ooh Jeff you old softy. However I agree. That still doesn't stop me from judging people, I think that it is human nature. Even though I try hard not to. I am forever grateful that I was born into a nice, respectable white middle class family. My parents had their own business (gourmet food importers - yes lucky me). However they never made loads of money. They made enough to house, clothe, feed and educate us. We were also taken on some overseas trips, which really opens your eyes to how lucky you are. One of my Dad's favourite sayings is "You don't know how lucky you are", the other is "You've got a lot to learn". I do agree with what you say, however I qualify it by saying I've also seen people pull themselves out of bad upbringings etc. and move on to incredibly productive lives..... so sometimes it is choice to be a lowlife. I do believe we have enabled a large chunk of lowlifes to be that way through social security...... which means far less money for our hospitals and far less money for education (hello hecs debt).

Jeff there is a British writer you should read. Pen-name Theodore Dalrymple. He was a prison Psychiatrist and had a column in the Spectator. He has written on this subject often but his book "Life at the bottom" is the best critical analysis of why bogan behaviour persists - even in relatively affluent societies like the UK. Its on Amazon books. Stupidly the American publishers chose to put a picture of an elderly vagrant man from the Depression era on the cover. This is emphatically NOT what he is discussing--more that, like your bloggers say, the underclass persistently make poor choices in life -- classically, young girls getting pregnant to feckless angry anti-social personality type males whom they intuitively know will abandon them and mistreat them. There is some perceptive commentary why this irrational behaviour persists in relatively prosperous societies. Its a bit right wing I suppose, but then you are somewhat simpatico with that, eh? Get hold of a copy.

A favourite quote... Everyone is a prisoner of his own experiences. No one can eliminate prejudices - just recognize them.--- Edward R. Murrow. I think also we are products of our experiences, but as we get older we get more choice in what those experiences are so we then impact on the "product".

Who are you trying to impress Mr Corbett? Has one of your own gone off the rails, or is it just a slight bit of compassion breaking through in your old age?

Don't you often feel that you're only a degree of separation from the homeless guy, the junkie or the "people you despise"? It's not that I pity them it's just that life could have been so much different for both of us if we'd traded places...and while we're getting all literary here Snooze...try some Ayn Rand or The Dice Man...I hated the premise of these books but they were interesting.