Hard work is admirable, but unfortunately, it’s not what gets people ahead in life. The popular Republican sentiment that people down on their luck just need to “pull themselves up by the bootstraps” is unrealistic and quite honestly selfish. Those who say that are often times wealthy individuals who come from affluent backgrounds. It’s not obvious to them that some people don’t have the opportunities that they have which led to their success. Success is a truly just luck. It’s made obvious beginning from school. Some people will have an easier time at school and getting jobs simply because of the family they were born into. Certain neighborhoods have better public schools with a lot more government funding while others are still using textbooks from the 1950s. The kids at those schools are more likely to have a stable home with parents who emphasize the importance of an education.

Other, less fortunate students regardless of how much time and effort they put into their work will not get the same quality of education. They will not have the same opportunities take college admissions exams or find scholarships so that they are able to get a degree and a high paying job. This lack of resources continues a vicious cycle that’s been going on forever.

The only people that have been given the tools for success throughout history (proper education, money, support) are wealthy white men. Not surprisingly, they are also the ones who have the ‘pull yourself up’ mentality. Those beliefs are held by people with a lot of power in this country. They’re governors, senators supreme court justices, even presidents. These people control legislature and funding for programs that are vital for the less fortunate. The lack of understanding from them impacts the lives of those that are poor, people of color, women, or others that are disadvantaged. Their decisions are based on their own desires for even more money and power because they don’t see the hardships of being underprivileged. Senators who have never had to worry about paying for healthcare slash funding to affordable clinics. They unequally distribute funds to schools in high income neighborhoods.

Their actions force the people that are hurt to stay in the same neighborhoods and jobs that will indefinitely keep them in a disadvantaged situation. The privilege that comes with wealth and status can blind someone from seeing the disadvantages that those without that same privilege face. All this isn’t to say that hard work is useless.  I just think that it is unfair to say that a rich white guy from West Omaha and a woman of color from a low income neighborhood have equal footing in life. I think there should be an understanding that hard work doesn’t really mean anything without the resources to complement it.