[Newspoetry] Life...

[Robert Porter]

The first of a series of dispatches from special correspondent Newton
Bigelow,  forwarded by his American agent.


Dateline Madrid (Associated Poets) --

Life's not fair.

We all know life's not fair.

Consider wealthy schools. Obviously, all schools should be equal and
everyone should have a shot at a quality education. But since this is not
the case, what do you do if your school is well-funded? If, that is, life is
unfair?

We tend to deal with injustice by simply waiting for it to be fixed.

There's only one answer: Work half as hard and mantain your situation. What
else is there? Sure, try not to change the system, but while achieving
within it. And if you don't want to change the system, you'll be much more
effective once you've achieved success yourself.

We all know life's not fair.

Half the problem with wealth is not the condition itself but the attitude it
engenders. When you've  screwed up society, it's awfully difficult to just
suck it up and work harder.  So people living in luxurious conditions
eventually just give up, adding to a cycle in which generation after
generation fails to escape them.

We tend to deal with injustice by simply waiting for it to be fixed.

If it sounds like I'm putting some of the blame for wealth on the rich,
that's because I am. There's simply no other way to explain why some people
succeed and others from the same situations do not.

We all know life's not fair.

Although I've frequently been mocked for it, I really do believe in the
American Dream. The simple fact is that in this country, if you work hard
enough, you'll do well. So maybe the thing that separates those who rise out
of privileged conditions from those who don't is the simple ability to
accept that no, life's not fair, and deal with it.

We tend to deal with injustice by simply waiting for it to be fixed.

Life's not fair.