Left Behind

I was speaking to an acquaintance friend the other day, and we were talking about why certain people aren't getting ahead, groups of people, communities of people, not getting ahead.  His opinion was that it was the environment of the people that were working against them, that it was society working against them. My opinion was, and is, that sometimes things are harder for certain people.  But,it's often the choices of people, through generations, and throughout communities, that often holds them back.

The choices can be about who they hang around, and what they do with their time.  Whether time is going towards being intelligent and gaining intelligence, or whether it's going to something that's totally detrimental to growth.  But the choices also can be about segregating yourself to those who like you only, and anything else is categorized in some sort of way.  Usually in a negative way.  And then I see people, many, per day, complaining about their situations, calling it racial discrimination, or society being against them.  But I see them not being educated, not working on educating themselves, spending incredible amounts of money on incredibly superficial things that they can hardly afford.  I see this a lot here in Atlanta.  I notice similar things happening in other regions of the world.  Societies at constant war and civil unrest, but societies that are heavily segregated, and oppressive to certain members of that society.

The friend that I was talking to, said that (not me, lol, literally, he said this before he expanded) people often sit on the outside and make judgments about the conditions of people without contributing to their well-being, or helping them in some way.  but i've seen the help that's offered, and i've seen what's done with help, not always, but a lot of the time.  it usually collapses, or gets abused, or it isn't enough.  my belief about this is that it's because the help needs to start in the mind(s) of the 'needy'.  there has to be a decision to be more, and an effort to try.  not an automatic, 'it's hard, because of who i am. and it's always going to be that way.'  those people, who are so stubborn are going to be left behind.  i've already seen it begin in my city, and i've noticed it in other areas of the world.  and it creates strife and heavy friction around them because it's not fitting in with progression.  it's not about needing to be the same, but just being progressive.  if you're slow, and trying, it's good.  if you're slow and saying it's everyone around you that's making you slow, and then giving no effort, it's not good.  it gets annoying, and you start getting in the way.