When reading Meanwhile you get the opportunity to choose your own path. There are many difficult decisions throughout the story. I got stuck in the time travel circle for a long time before I found the right path. Other than the confusing parts of the story, I thought Meanwhile was a good and interesting read.
In class we discussed equal opportunity. It is obvious that some people are given more opportunities to succeed in life. This makes it easier for these people to make more money but that doesn't nessecarily mean that they don't need to work as hard. No one is going to be able to step in and run a business without the knowledge needed to help the company succeed. You can argue that they are millions of other people qualified for the job, but who would be a better canidate than the ceo's son/daughter? They lived their whole life watching and learning how their parent ran the company. People have talents that are unique to them so naturally there can't be equal opportunity. Someone who is seven feet tall is going to have a better chance of being a professional basketball player than someone who is five feet tall.
We also discussed the past and future in class. This reminded me of the movie Butterfly Effect. In this movie he traveled back in time and changed one small part of his life. From doing this his whole entire future was changed. This relates to meanwhile and the discussion we had about free will.
There very well may be sons and daughters of C.E.O.s who are great candidates to "take over" the family business upon their father or mother's retirement or death. But this isn't what spurred the arguments which arose in class. But rather the idea that people living in poverty simply didn't "work hard enough" in life to succeed (and for some this is true). But such (incorrect) generalizations arise from the (false) idea of the American Dream. There are many people, who through no fault of their own, will never succeed as others who have the social opportunities and biological potential to do so. Nobody is criticizing C.E.O.s for being successful but rather the idea they are successful simply because "they worked harder than everyone else".
ReplyDeleteNicely written nick couldnt agree more
ReplyDeletei agree with peter a whole hell of a lot. you can't make that generalization because for the most part it is not true.
ReplyDeletePeter, if that is something that interests you, you might enjoy Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Peter
ReplyDeleteTATY SAYS: I agree with Peter completely. Some people are born into priveledge and this allows them to have the ability to succeed but does not always mean they fufill their “path”. Then there are people who are not expected to succeed but completely blow peoples expectations away.
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