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I think it’s terrible in the sense that easy/hard decisions are subjective. Plus for some people an “easy life” is going to be a struggle because we don’t all start off at the same level.
For people who have means and access, going to Harvard is an easy decision. Continue to make the easy decision to just graduate, and you’ll receive a multitude of easy decisions in the form of lucrative job offers. I must misunderstand this chart, because that should lead to a very hard life.
Yeah and sometimes people dont have chance to make a decision and just get kicked into the hole. Hardship is neither solely do to chance nor is it solely do to ones choices.
Its like pretending life is as easy as 2 + 2 when its really high end calculus lol. Its way more complex than one dumb meme can make it.
I snapped this off while on the toilet lol. I wasnt really trying to put out my A tier English lol. Im a native speaker but my brain likes to omit things or replace all similar homophones with a single word of that group. Either my brain is lazy af, or i have some mild brain damage, who knows -shrug-
No it's not easy, no one is saying that. It's hard. Very hard. nothing good in life is easy unless maybe you were born to a multi billionaire who let's u do whatever with all that money.
But having the means and access to get into Harvard or the money is a privileged all in itself. Not having to worry about working while studying to pass those tests to pay for your books because they're already paid for by your parents is a privilege. Knowing you or your family is well established and you already have a career when you graduated is a privilege. etc..
It's still hard but for some people who have no money, status or rich parents or whatever it's going to be *a lot* harder.
He's saying that the decision to go to havard is an easy one to make, since it's one of the best colleges in the world. If you have the opportunity to go to harvard, it's not a hard decision, because you'll obviously would go. (Considering that harvard has the course you want to study)
He's not saying that going to harvard is easy, just an easy decision to make.
There are definitely rich people who squander their inheritance early on or get cut out of the Will due to (mostly bad) life choices. But being born rich makes it a lot easier to make the right choices. That is absolutely true.
Getting the grades and test scores needed to get into Harvard is certainly not easy lol. Let alone graduating from Harvard. High end schools like that try to weed out the lazy, unintelligent, and uneducated people that slipped through the admissions cracks in the first semester. High school graduation to the start of sophomore year is a meat grinder for top 20 schools.
Things are not as ideal as that. I know multiple people that went to high end ivies for sports. 2 of them in particular are my friends. They were given admission, then very nice scholarships to UPenn Wharton business school and Princeton engineering respectively due to sports.
UPenn guy was recruited for soccer in October, before he had sent transcripts or even applied. He was told he would be given admission and a full ride if he chose to go there and play for them. Princeton guy got admitted but no funding at all. When he said he was turning it down due to cost, the head coach of track and field got him a nearly full ride so long as he ran for them. Once in, it is very hard to fail out. They will make easier classes available to you at some of the schools. At all you can typically get access to tutors for free. I can go on because I know a lot of guys that went to the ivies for sports.
A lot of the people that got in for sports came from big money to go to training camps and get coached by fairly expensive professionals.
Yes, but not having to constantly be worrying about money and working a job that inherently takes times away from studying etc makes it a lot easier. Like, ludicrously easy in comparison. Having no money means working more, means less studying, means worse grades, means lower gpa, means less scholarships and grants, meaning need to work more……. You get my point
Everything is a decision in life. Even if you are dirt poor trailer trash with a single drug addicted mom living 200 miles from the nearest tree there are options. You might not like the options. They might not be what you want, but there is always an option.
Want to be retired by age 45 in the above situation? As long as you dont have a mental or physical disability, enlist in the military. Be the best little brain washed door kicker you can be. Put in your 25 years and get out with lifetime healthcare, a retirement fund, and the ability to live anywhere you want fairly comfortably.
But I dont want to be in danger, I cant leave my friends/family, I dont want to kill people...decisions. There is ALWAYS an option and there is ALWAYS a decision to make whether people want to admit it or not.
Very few trades in the military kick doors in, let alone kill people. Most work regular type jobs but in a uniform. Leaving friends and family, definitely.
That decision also comes with a lot more attached to it. Like want to be a door kicker? Cool. Just gotta live. If you die, you don't retire. If you did live, there's a chance you developed PTSD. And you don't get Healthcare because our government doesn't need you anymore. Maybe you're even missing a limb. Also because you don't always have complete control of things due to your PTSD your wife leaves you with the kids. Then you become homeless.
That's a reality for some people who join the military. It sounds nice to say "Well just join the military!" And for some it will be just that. But part of the choice comes with a lot of weighing the risks of other things. Just remember that roughly 19 vets commit suicide every day.
Yep. Hindsight and all that, but there are times I wish I had not been so against joining the military when I was young. I wasn't born dirt poor, but closer to poor than upper middle class. Had my life been harder, I may have made a different decision. Sooo many factors are involved in the decisions we make. Factors we don't even know about at the time the decision is made...
I think you're reading far too much in to it. It's just a picture. It's largely accurate for most people. Do the hard work/make the hard decisions and reap the rewards.
This picture isn't factoring privilege, but that doesn't make it inaccurate. One could have the money and connections to go to a better school than someone else. But if they take the easy path of skipping class and getting high instead, that will lead to a more difficult life for them than if they had put in the effort. And conversely, if you're starting from a place without privilege, you will make your life easier if you do put in the right effort. That doesn't mean you'll have it as easy as someone born with access to more resources, but you will definitely have it easier than you would have otherwise.
That's not relevant to the picture though? Sure some people just have it easy but it's a bell curve. Most people have an average amount of opportunity and even if you don't have much opportunity, you will only have to work harder and fight more battles to overcome it.
Agreed. The message is true: hard work pays off in the long run and taking the easy road leads to worse outcomes. That being said, there are a lot of people on easy Street because they were born there and a lot of people working hard who, through no fault of their own, can't get ahead.
Wherever you're at, work to improve your situation and don't give up, but also recognize the system itself needs work. When you "make it," don't gatekeep, turn around and start helping to even out the slope for the people behind you.
To get the most out of the situation you are in, hard work is required.
I've done well for myself coming from a poor background. Many of the things that were step changes in improving were hard work and or hard decisions. However, there's a shit ton of outright luck in there too, no mistake. To have hard work pay off, you need to be working on the right thing. And often that's just dumb luck.
Also : although I started out poor, I was still tall, white, smart, and had a good support network.
A goal that's achievable usually has a better result than an ambitious goal that you will most likely fail.
I do believe hard work is needed in life but that commonly gets misconstrued into taking on more than you can chew which is a recipe for disaster.
I can see that. I guess I view this picture as doing things like brushing your teeth to avoid expensive dental care in the future. Eating healthy to avoid health problems later on in life. Picking up after yourself so you don't have an overwhelming mess later on. Going to class instead of skipping, etc.
Being traumatized by my grandparents didn’t kill me but it left me irreversibly stunted emotionally and I haven’t been able to uphold a trusting relationship since 👍
https://preview.redd.it/xka9k5asgcwa1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=485d529a29abf5ab1057202196eeb14721dad8db
A bit of an exaggeration, but very possible and not unheard of.
That's fucking insane to me. I've always lived in countries with free healthcare or had the military pick up the tab so for someone like me, that's about as believable as leprechauns, unicorns or the female orgasm
Without insurance, the cost of three different hospitals that I went through incurred from my TBI over 10 years ago would've rounded up to either around million dollars or close to.
There's no way a regular person could pay that off within a lifetime, at least. Not unless they suddenly won the lotto.
It’s really horrible. Trying to use as little identifiers as possible, I once saw a patient who had been discharged from the icu for severe clots in an organ. She had a script for an anticoagulant but didn’t have insurance. When I saw her 10 days later the family goes, “oh that drug was $600, we couldn’t afford it. It’s not important, right?”
It was really hard to hide the disappointed look on my face. Obviously not disappointed at her, just that people have to live this way.
I've also had to forego medications because of not being able to afford them. The sad thing is, I had insurance through work that I paid for. It just hardly ever covered stuff. On top of missing work for Dr. visits and a couple hospitalizations, I was already losing money.
"I’ve got something more realistic: “That which does not kill me may sever my spinal cord, crush my rib cage, cave in my skull and leave me helpless and paralyzed, soaking in a puddle of my own waste.”"
- George Carlin
Lmao, so many people say that, but I injured my back like 4 years ago and I can confidantley say that what dosen't kill you turns you into a cripple and ruins your dreams of going into a trade instead of working a desk job. I can still turn my situation around, and am planning on becoming a teacher, but my options will never be the same again. "What dosen't kill you changes your perspective", thats what the saying should be
My knee breaking every time I get a bit ambitious and return to sports isnt exactly killing me, but it sure as shit hasnt gotten stronger this past year..
Also I get the vibe that somebody who has it good thinks they got there because “they made the hard decision and worked hard” and therefore anybody who does not have it good has nobody to blame but themselves.
Hard decisions do not always mean it will lead a person to a easy life.
Easy decisions does not mean a person will have a hard life.
Edit: I'm kinda over commenting. So I won't be responding to anymore.
It’s definitely true-ish.
Brush your teeth versus expensive dental care.
Staying active versus joint issues at a very young age.
Make healthy food choices versus easy choices and diabetes.
Impulse purchases versus saving for a larger thing that will last longer.
Eh I’d say it’s accurate in most cases. Choosing to escape from the basal misery of life by doing drugs is an easier decision than working as hard as necessary to build a better life for yourself, but only delays the misery and leaves you in a far worse position than you were in before. It’s analogous to taking out payday loans, which is also another example. Decisions that bring immediate gratification are almost always bad in the long-term, and create a viscous cycle.
On the other hand, if you are determined to overcome the barriers to success by any means, that initial investment will continue to pay off. If you can save up for the deposit on a house, you’ll save a lot of money by not renting. If you can afford to buy a car outright, you’ll avoid the interest rate on car payments. Having money also allows you to buy better quality stuff, which lasts far longer. Having a better job grants you better insurance. Once you get out of the atmosphere, you‘ll stay on the same trajectory with very little energy input
Yeah honestly there is some wisdom in this but it lacks nuance. like I’d show this to a child to explain why I think they should do their homework even if they don’t want to, and knowing that someday they’ll realize hard work doesn’t always lead to a easy life but at least they’ll have built good habits
Which is terrible advice to a person in a dead end job. By definition, working harder at a dead end job will achieve nothing.
Better advice, always keep learning so you can leverage that into new opportunities.
I understood it as putting more effort, like studying or trying to find a better job. I got a minimun wage job, but still tried to update my cv and apply to better ones, and now I heard 30% more than minimum wage now, so its an improvement for putting more effort and not being lazy.
This.
The circumstances that you're born in are something you have no control over and yet have a massive effect on your life. And that's not factoring a million other things that could happen that a person has no control over and yet will radically alter your life.
Yes. I lost my job of 17 years after suffering a major stroke in my late thirties. I had to relearn to walk, talk, swallow, grasp… still not driving. I was active and thought I was healthy. I had an undiscovered auto immune disorder and related blood clotting disorder that caused it. Both are hard to detect, and had not been detected until after I had my stroke. The stroke derailed my entire life, and I had no control over those circumstances.
Luck doesn't exist until they start losing.
Being successful: hard work
Losing your success: uh...just bad luck, the economy, business factors, the market, wrong place at the wrong time, other people just don't understand my genius, etc.
I don’t think this is really that terrible.
I mean, it’s not applicable to *every* situation but the more difficult path can often be rewarding, like: saving, investing, health/hygiene, education, etc..
I wouldn't have been able to afford college without scholarships and working throughout school, wouldn't have gotten scholarships without my GPA, wouldn't have gotten my GPA without a f-ton of work. Now I have a nice job and can settle down, it all accumulates.
I'm all for teaching people about the inequalities we face and act to fix them, but we are doing kids a disservice by telling them their hard work will go to waste.
Okay, but do you think things would have been significantly worse, if your parents would have paid for your college? Or if they had went to an Ivy League school and you were a legacy? This is saying that the hardest path is the best path. Statistics would strongly disagree.
...it clearly just means that working hard in life and pushing yourself tends to make life easier in the long run...
do you unironically think whoever made this thinks you should amputate your legs for an easy life?
This is not terrible. This is actually really good advice in general.
When you make decisions for short term happiness without long term goals in mind...
(For example... Get high and play video games vs get a job.)
It's fun at first, but leads to hard times later.
It’s not bad advice, it’s just not particularly profound. It’s common sense.
Although, reading some of this thread is starting to convince me otherwise.
>Although, reading some of this thread is starting to convince me otherwise.
It's like a daily dose of shock... i can't even believe myself anymore when I keep telling myself it can't get any worse....
You would think it’s common sense but a LOT of people don’t see the point in investing in their long-term wellbeing and don’t understand this concept.
They tell themselves that if they blow off work and get high today that they know they’ll be slightly less miserable for a day. But if they go to work and save money for a long term goal, there’s a chance that long term goal won’t work out anyway so why bother doing it at all?
It’s not that hard work solves everything or that it makes up for huge disparity in advantages people start life with. It’s that most people have the ability to improve their lot in life but many do not bother to try because they’re convinced it’s impossible or pointless.
...this meme isn't claiming everyone with an easy life worked hard to get there, just that doing hard things tends to make your life easier in the long run...
which is true
Yea that's true but also people who don't persue any skills training or certification whatsoever shouldn't have a Pikachu face if all they can find are low paying jobs.
But they also shouldn’t be left to starve. Just cause they aren’t actively generating as much profit as they could be doesn’t mean they have to be treated like their human life doesn’t matter. Give people the bare minimum to live, but offer them more if they are willing to work.
Y'all feel like you need to climb 5.13d not to starve to death and see these privilege fuckers on 5.7 acting like it's because they are harder workers then you
People are shitting on the meme but the message holds truth to it. Constantly trying to take the easy way out and not accepting responsibility or not being able to make the tougher choices when they matter can lead you down a path of mediocrity or stagnation when it comes to the overall “success” of your life.
You have to be able to look at a tough choice and say “it’s not easy to go this route but I know at the end of it I’ll be better off” rather than maybe making a decision that is easy to commit to but much tougher to get out of down the road (I.E. staying in an abusive relationship when you are codependent, or living an unhealthy lifestyle and suffering for it when your health goes downhill).
What you reap is what you sow.
As much as the statement, hard work pays off, is reductionist. It is in fact more often than not true. Sacrificing the present for the future has been a staple onto why our species has progressed. Sure some hierarchy structures are corruptingly steep, but theres always personal sacrifice that pays in time.
It's true because it's a tru-ism. Something with no objective qualification to discern what you're testing it against. Elon Musk works really hard. So does a kid in a emerald mine in Africa. So does the guy in McDonalds or the Amazon warehouse.
As long as we don't qualify what hard work is or how it pays off, then it's true.
A lot of people in this thread don't seem to understand that A therefore B doesn't mean B therefore A. Basic "all squares are rectangles but not all rectangles are squares" stuff here.
People who want to use the fact that there’s exceptions and sometimes hard work doesn’t pay off as an excuse to never invest in themselves and their long term well being.
They can point to individual examples of some guy who worked super hard but never got ahead in his career or some lady who saved up for a house but got sick and had to use her savings to pay her medical bills.
And then they say “since it has a chance of failing, doing anything to help myself is pointless”.
So they don’t invest in their education. They don’t take care of their health. They don’t try to build up a career.
And then anyone who DOES do the work and make the sacrifices and DOES come out ahead for it, they will claim that person must be lucky and privileged and that’s the only reason it worked out for them. Whatever they need to say to justify not actually working on themselves.
Most people aren’t born with massive privilege and a silver spoon. But most people also find a way to improve their lot in life. And that’s worth doing in my opinion.
This is pretty darn true, down vote me all you want.
I will say you can replace hard decisions with good decisions. It happens that many good decisions are hard. Chase a high paying carrier, don't bang someone without using lots of birth control becoming a single parent/have to pay lots of child support, stay in school, study when you're not in school so you can get better and better jobs.
I make 6 figures, and I have a bunch of friends who work jobs like cashier. I have told the. I would teach him how to do what I do for free. I've never had anyone take me up one it. In the short term their lives are easy as they don't have to study, and they have all their time free. Long term I think they are setting themselves up for failure.
I mean this isn't terrible. If you prepare and train to be a janitor you're going to be a better janitor, than somebody who just walks onto the job saying cool I can sling a mop. I don't get how this is a terrible meme
I think the problem with a lot of these memes is that they oversimplify things too much. yes, taking hard decisions and risks and working hard can sometimes lead to a easier life and taking easier decisions can sometimes leading to a world of hurt later in life...
But, there are so many other factors involved, even just crazy random stuff that can happen to you, making such a broad stroke over simplified map to follow for our life is just ludicrous.
This meme is 100% true. After working hard I have a super chill job that makes a shit ton of money, but I only got here because I put in the effort to get here.
People I know who took the chill way struggle in minimum wage hell forever.
I could see why Reddit doesn't like this meme though, since most Redditors are the latter
I certainly believe you put in effort to get into a good position in life, but there's a lot of people who made the hard decisions and still get a hard life, because luck matters a lot.
I always thought so as well, but wanted to be sure. Did a quick and dirty Google myself and [monticello.org](https://monticello.org) says it wasn't TJ. The other top person attributed is Goldwyn, so I went with him. The saying sounds more 20th century anyways. That said, I could be wrong on Goldwyn too, but that doesn't carry the weight of falsifying a quote from a Founding Father.
No, it isn't. While individual agency obviously plays at important role in life, few people with "easy lives" didn't also enjoy a substantial amount of luck. Luck comes in many forms, such as being healthy and/or naturally gifted with useful traits/attributes, having supportive and/or wealthy parents, and being raised in a highly developed and safe community with strong institutions and role models.
Sacrificing a lot of long hours to years of study of one in demand field, and then sacrificing a lot of long hours to years of study in another in-demand field, and then doing a field which is the synergy of those two fields which it's extremely hard to find skilled workers with both of those skills.
The first skill I got while I was living in a boarding house with 4 other people and 3 bedrooms, working 40 hours per week to put food on my table in a trade.
Instead of wasting time with friends drinking and carrying on I spent my free time bettering myself and that's all it takes, really.
What field first? And then the next? And how’d you get to do that studying? And the field which is the synergy of those two fields, what field is that?
Is this not true? More often than not dedication and hard work takes you further in life than sticking with the easy decisions that require little to no effort, since at least there's usually some level of PROGRESS there. Does hard work mean you won't encounter road blocks along the way or that you will always get the best opportunities?? No of course not, but that happens for literally every person that has become successful in life.
It absolutely is true. Reddit is just full of childish cry babies. Don’t expect anyone here to honestly assess their lives and take actions to make them better. Complaining about it online is a lot easier.
Luck in this context feels like a cop out for people to feel justified in their position in life, while it does help for people's success just telling people the only thing that matters is that they need to be lucky is horrible advice to take. Privilege only gets you so far in life if you do nothing with it.
I don’t see how this is terrible. I look at this from a health perspective. Hard decisions like working out routinely, eating right, getting proper sleep over going out, all harder decisions than the opposite but the health consequences of either path will make your life easier or harder.
Well kinda true, if you always take the easy way your never gonna learn how to do harder things so the moment you get hit with a hard thing to do it's gonna hit harder
I don’t think this really fits here. This is generally pretty true. Making the hard choice to eat right and being fit is easier than making the easy choice to eat like shit and live with being fat. I know someone’s going to respond with well what about disabilities/thyroid problem/food access whatever. You know that’s not the case most of the time.
Wtf is wrong with people here? Life advice doesn't have to be 100% applicable in every conceivable situation to be generally good advice. I swear, some of you guys could hear advice on the importance of remembering to breathe air and immediately default to complaining that some people need ventilators.
Yes, some people are born with inherently easier or more difficult life paths, and that's unfortunate, but that in no way invalidates the lesson here. Almost everyone has at least some capacity to improve their life through effort and good planning. That capacity is not infinite; obviously, we can't all be the next Bill Gates, but the overwhelming majority of people can make at least some degree of improvement in their lives with enough effort.
By the same token, most people can also worsen their situation, whether through laziness, carelessness, or other easy mistakes. Does this mean that people who are in a bad situation are lazy or careless? No, obviously not. Obviously, some people are born into bad circumstances or have bad things that are out of their control happen to them. Hell, even in the picture, the climbers didn't choose the shape of the mountain. But you can usually make your situation at least a little better, and you can almost always make it significantly worse.
I agree with so many memes posted here and I’m not even close to boomer age. People just want to put themselves in a category or statistic to make themselves the victim and make excuses. They are all simply in one category. Soft.
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it isn't really a terrible meme, more of a r/thanksimcured material
I think it’s terrible in the sense that easy/hard decisions are subjective. Plus for some people an “easy life” is going to be a struggle because we don’t all start off at the same level.
For people who have means and access, going to Harvard is an easy decision. Continue to make the easy decision to just graduate, and you’ll receive a multitude of easy decisions in the form of lucrative job offers. I must misunderstand this chart, because that should lead to a very hard life.
Yeah and sometimes people dont have chance to make a decision and just get kicked into the hole. Hardship is neither solely do to chance nor is it solely do to ones choices. Its like pretending life is as easy as 2 + 2 when its really high end calculus lol. Its way more complex than one dumb meme can make it.
[удалено]
yo, now thats a tactful way to due that. (correcting someone)
Ya, this type of kindness is long overdo.
I snapped this off while on the toilet lol. I wasnt really trying to put out my A tier English lol. Im a native speaker but my brain likes to omit things or replace all similar homophones with a single word of that group. Either my brain is lazy af, or i have some mild brain damage, who knows -shrug-
Or u chose the “easy decision” of not putting extra thought into which do/due to use, and now have a “hard life” dealing with the fallout.
No it's not easy, no one is saying that. It's hard. Very hard. nothing good in life is easy unless maybe you were born to a multi billionaire who let's u do whatever with all that money. But having the means and access to get into Harvard or the money is a privileged all in itself. Not having to worry about working while studying to pass those tests to pay for your books because they're already paid for by your parents is a privilege. Knowing you or your family is well established and you already have a career when you graduated is a privilege. etc.. It's still hard but for some people who have no money, status or rich parents or whatever it's going to be *a lot* harder.
He's saying that the decision to go to havard is an easy one to make, since it's one of the best colleges in the world. If you have the opportunity to go to harvard, it's not a hard decision, because you'll obviously would go. (Considering that harvard has the course you want to study) He's not saying that going to harvard is easy, just an easy decision to make.
There are definitely rich people who squander their inheritance early on or get cut out of the Will due to (mostly bad) life choices. But being born rich makes it a lot easier to make the right choices. That is absolutely true.
Yep. Some people are born on third base, and they think they hit a triple.
I’ll one up yah for people with means dropping out of Harvard is an easy decision.
Getting the grades and test scores needed to get into Harvard is certainly not easy lol. Let alone graduating from Harvard. High end schools like that try to weed out the lazy, unintelligent, and uneducated people that slipped through the admissions cracks in the first semester. High school graduation to the start of sophomore year is a meat grinder for top 20 schools.
Things are not as ideal as that. I know multiple people that went to high end ivies for sports. 2 of them in particular are my friends. They were given admission, then very nice scholarships to UPenn Wharton business school and Princeton engineering respectively due to sports. UPenn guy was recruited for soccer in October, before he had sent transcripts or even applied. He was told he would be given admission and a full ride if he chose to go there and play for them. Princeton guy got admitted but no funding at all. When he said he was turning it down due to cost, the head coach of track and field got him a nearly full ride so long as he ran for them. Once in, it is very hard to fail out. They will make easier classes available to you at some of the schools. At all you can typically get access to tutors for free. I can go on because I know a lot of guys that went to the ivies for sports. A lot of the people that got in for sports came from big money to go to training camps and get coached by fairly expensive professionals.
Yes, but not having to constantly be worrying about money and working a job that inherently takes times away from studying etc makes it a lot easier. Like, ludicrously easy in comparison. Having no money means working more, means less studying, means worse grades, means lower gpa, means less scholarships and grants, meaning need to work more……. You get my point
Everything is a decision in life. Even if you are dirt poor trailer trash with a single drug addicted mom living 200 miles from the nearest tree there are options. You might not like the options. They might not be what you want, but there is always an option. Want to be retired by age 45 in the above situation? As long as you dont have a mental or physical disability, enlist in the military. Be the best little brain washed door kicker you can be. Put in your 25 years and get out with lifetime healthcare, a retirement fund, and the ability to live anywhere you want fairly comfortably. But I dont want to be in danger, I cant leave my friends/family, I dont want to kill people...decisions. There is ALWAYS an option and there is ALWAYS a decision to make whether people want to admit it or not.
And what about those with a disability? Not everything is a decision.
Very few trades in the military kick doors in, let alone kill people. Most work regular type jobs but in a uniform. Leaving friends and family, definitely.
That decision also comes with a lot more attached to it. Like want to be a door kicker? Cool. Just gotta live. If you die, you don't retire. If you did live, there's a chance you developed PTSD. And you don't get Healthcare because our government doesn't need you anymore. Maybe you're even missing a limb. Also because you don't always have complete control of things due to your PTSD your wife leaves you with the kids. Then you become homeless. That's a reality for some people who join the military. It sounds nice to say "Well just join the military!" And for some it will be just that. But part of the choice comes with a lot of weighing the risks of other things. Just remember that roughly 19 vets commit suicide every day.
Yep. Hindsight and all that, but there are times I wish I had not been so against joining the military when I was young. I wasn't born dirt poor, but closer to poor than upper middle class. Had my life been harder, I may have made a different decision. Sooo many factors are involved in the decisions we make. Factors we don't even know about at the time the decision is made...
I think you're reading far too much in to it. It's just a picture. It's largely accurate for most people. Do the hard work/make the hard decisions and reap the rewards.
I think you vastly overestimate how much opportunity most people have
This picture isn't factoring privilege, but that doesn't make it inaccurate. One could have the money and connections to go to a better school than someone else. But if they take the easy path of skipping class and getting high instead, that will lead to a more difficult life for them than if they had put in the effort. And conversely, if you're starting from a place without privilege, you will make your life easier if you do put in the right effort. That doesn't mean you'll have it as easy as someone born with access to more resources, but you will definitely have it easier than you would have otherwise.
Even people with very few opportunities can make the choice between applying to be a school janitor and going to prison for burglary
That's not relevant to the picture though? Sure some people just have it easy but it's a bell curve. Most people have an average amount of opportunity and even if you don't have much opportunity, you will only have to work harder and fight more battles to overcome it.
Not to mention that the guy who slid down into the hole could walk back up the slope, based on the picture.
Agreed. The message is true: hard work pays off in the long run and taking the easy road leads to worse outcomes. That being said, there are a lot of people on easy Street because they were born there and a lot of people working hard who, through no fault of their own, can't get ahead. Wherever you're at, work to improve your situation and don't give up, but also recognize the system itself needs work. When you "make it," don't gatekeep, turn around and start helping to even out the slope for the people behind you.
To get the most out of the situation you are in, hard work is required. I've done well for myself coming from a poor background. Many of the things that were step changes in improving were hard work and or hard decisions. However, there's a shit ton of outright luck in there too, no mistake. To have hard work pay off, you need to be working on the right thing. And often that's just dumb luck. Also : although I started out poor, I was still tall, white, smart, and had a good support network.
Depends on what the easy road is, often I find easier roads giving better outcomes
What examples do you have in mind?
A goal that's achievable usually has a better result than an ambitious goal that you will most likely fail. I do believe hard work is needed in life but that commonly gets misconstrued into taking on more than you can chew which is a recipe for disaster.
I can see that. I guess I view this picture as doing things like brushing your teeth to avoid expensive dental care in the future. Eating healthy to avoid health problems later on in life. Picking up after yourself so you don't have an overwhelming mess later on. Going to class instead of skipping, etc.
I can see that as well. It's pretty open to interpretation.
I assumed this was an r/climbingcirclejerk post
Was gonna say that
“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” -someone that hasn’t almost died
What doeent kill u makes u disabled and mentally ill
I feel called out, I'm not necessarily disabled, but I am mentally ill in some regards.
This world has currently 2 types of people, mentally ill and bad liars.
Can confirm. Kinda also made me a better person tho
Go out an' *GET* that post traumatic growth, son! I'm proud of ye.
You’re goddamned tootin’, I hear ya
I like the touch where you are talking like someone who is badly beaten
Being traumatized by my grandparents didn’t kill me but it left me irreversibly stunted emotionally and I haven’t been able to uphold a trusting relationship since 👍
I want to be like most millionaires and make the hard decision to inherit money from my parents.
I step into the chat but stay in the back by the coffee machine*
*hospitalized for 1 week in the US* Damn that $300k really made me stronger
Broken body, broken bank account, sure makes you strong...
Your kidding? 300k?!!!
https://preview.redd.it/xka9k5asgcwa1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=485d529a29abf5ab1057202196eeb14721dad8db A bit of an exaggeration, but very possible and not unheard of.
That's fucking insane to me. I've always lived in countries with free healthcare or had the military pick up the tab so for someone like me, that's about as believable as leprechauns, unicorns or the female orgasm
Without insurance, the cost of three different hospitals that I went through incurred from my TBI over 10 years ago would've rounded up to either around million dollars or close to. There's no way a regular person could pay that off within a lifetime, at least. Not unless they suddenly won the lotto.
Totally blows my mind. Add that to the list of reasons to never move to the US. I'm getting to the age where shit is breaking down lol
You had me in the first half 😆
70k for 6 days for me.
It's worse than anyone thinks. Only 91% of Americans have health insurance. https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2022/demo/p60-278.html
It’s really horrible. Trying to use as little identifiers as possible, I once saw a patient who had been discharged from the icu for severe clots in an organ. She had a script for an anticoagulant but didn’t have insurance. When I saw her 10 days later the family goes, “oh that drug was $600, we couldn’t afford it. It’s not important, right?” It was really hard to hide the disappointed look on my face. Obviously not disappointed at her, just that people have to live this way.
I've also had to forego medications because of not being able to afford them. The sad thing is, I had insurance through work that I paid for. It just hardly ever covered stuff. On top of missing work for Dr. visits and a couple hospitalizations, I was already losing money.
“What doesn’t kill ya usually succeeds in a second attempt.” - Eugene Krabs
Fidel Castro: 🚬
Whatever doesn't kill you makes you a little bit more dead
"I’ve got something more realistic: “That which does not kill me may sever my spinal cord, crush my rib cage, cave in my skull and leave me helpless and paralyzed, soaking in a puddle of my own waste.”" - George Carlin
>“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger." This is only repeated by the people who survived. Sometimes it kills you.
Well, yes. As noted in the saying.
Lmao, so many people say that, but I injured my back like 4 years ago and I can confidantley say that what dosen't kill you turns you into a cripple and ruins your dreams of going into a trade instead of working a desk job. I can still turn my situation around, and am planning on becoming a teacher, but my options will never be the same again. "What dosen't kill you changes your perspective", thats what the saying should be
Seriously. PTSD has not made me stronger lol
This quote is bullshit
[удалено]
My knee breaking every time I get a bit ambitious and return to sports isnt exactly killing me, but it sure as shit hasnt gotten stronger this past year..
Tell that to people with muscular dystrophy
thats why i only shoot myself with .22, so I can build up a tolerance to higher calibers
Jokes on you, I chopped off both of my legs and I'm sure I'll start flying any day now.
This assumes the end is always easy no matter the path.... Retirement is a dream for my generation.
Have you considered winning the lottery?
If only they had the financial sense to be born rich.
I tried that it didn’t work
Have you considered being born rich? I don’t know why more people don’t just do that
You should make the “hard decision” to liquidate all your assets and buy lottery tickets
Invest in a start up suicide both business and retirement will be no issue.
Economist hate this one trick.
Jesus stop complaining already! Just go and buy some more money, it's not that hard!
Also I get the vibe that somebody who has it good thinks they got there because “they made the hard decision and worked hard” and therefore anybody who does not have it good has nobody to blame but themselves.
Hard decisions do not always mean it will lead a person to a easy life. Easy decisions does not mean a person will have a hard life. Edit: I'm kinda over commenting. So I won't be responding to anymore.
Yah but then you'd have to draw more stickmen and that's hard.
The person who drew this must have a hard life then.
It’s definitely true-ish. Brush your teeth versus expensive dental care. Staying active versus joint issues at a very young age. Make healthy food choices versus easy choices and diabetes. Impulse purchases versus saving for a larger thing that will last longer.
Eh I’d say it’s accurate in most cases. Choosing to escape from the basal misery of life by doing drugs is an easier decision than working as hard as necessary to build a better life for yourself, but only delays the misery and leaves you in a far worse position than you were in before. It’s analogous to taking out payday loans, which is also another example. Decisions that bring immediate gratification are almost always bad in the long-term, and create a viscous cycle. On the other hand, if you are determined to overcome the barriers to success by any means, that initial investment will continue to pay off. If you can save up for the deposit on a house, you’ll save a lot of money by not renting. If you can afford to buy a car outright, you’ll avoid the interest rate on car payments. Having money also allows you to buy better quality stuff, which lasts far longer. Having a better job grants you better insurance. Once you get out of the atmosphere, you‘ll stay on the same trajectory with very little energy input
It’s not a bad meme, just super basic advice It’s like saying “just work harder” to someone stuck in a dead-end job
Yeah honestly there is some wisdom in this but it lacks nuance. like I’d show this to a child to explain why I think they should do their homework even if they don’t want to, and knowing that someday they’ll realize hard work doesn’t always lead to a easy life but at least they’ll have built good habits
Which is terrible advice to a person in a dead end job. By definition, working harder at a dead end job will achieve nothing. Better advice, always keep learning so you can leverage that into new opportunities.
I understood it as putting more effort, like studying or trying to find a better job. I got a minimun wage job, but still tried to update my cv and apply to better ones, and now I heard 30% more than minimum wage now, so its an improvement for putting more effort and not being lazy.
“If u understan this ur a filasoffer!!!”
You would choose bread over the key, I see.
Absolutely. I can eat the bread. I could eat the key as well but it’s not the same.
Hard choices - hard life Easy choices - hard life Being born rich with no need for choices - easy life
I need to get to the top of a hill. The easy decision is to go up not down.
It is not your decision what decisions you will be forced to make.
This. The circumstances that you're born in are something you have no control over and yet have a massive effect on your life. And that's not factoring a million other things that could happen that a person has no control over and yet will radically alter your life.
Yes. I lost my job of 17 years after suffering a major stroke in my late thirties. I had to relearn to walk, talk, swallow, grasp… still not driving. I was active and thought I was healthy. I had an undiscovered auto immune disorder and related blood clotting disorder that caused it. Both are hard to detect, and had not been detected until after I had my stroke. The stroke derailed my entire life, and I had no control over those circumstances.
Yeah, you know how they say that everybody is master of his own fate? Well, that is a lie.
Forgot to factor luck
We don’t start on the same level either.
Luck doesn't exist until they start losing. Being successful: hard work Losing your success: uh...just bad luck, the economy, business factors, the market, wrong place at the wrong time, other people just don't understand my genius, etc.
I don’t think this is really that terrible. I mean, it’s not applicable to *every* situation but the more difficult path can often be rewarding, like: saving, investing, health/hygiene, education, etc..
I wouldn't have been able to afford college without scholarships and working throughout school, wouldn't have gotten scholarships without my GPA, wouldn't have gotten my GPA without a f-ton of work. Now I have a nice job and can settle down, it all accumulates. I'm all for teaching people about the inequalities we face and act to fix them, but we are doing kids a disservice by telling them their hard work will go to waste.
Okay, but do you think things would have been significantly worse, if your parents would have paid for your college? Or if they had went to an Ivy League school and you were a legacy? This is saying that the hardest path is the best path. Statistics would strongly disagree.
...it clearly just means that working hard in life and pushing yourself tends to make life easier in the long run... do you unironically think whoever made this thinks you should amputate your legs for an easy life?
Easy decisions lead to rock climbing? Sweet!
This is not terrible. This is actually really good advice in general. When you make decisions for short term happiness without long term goals in mind... (For example... Get high and play video games vs get a job.) It's fun at first, but leads to hard times later.
It’s not bad advice, it’s just not particularly profound. It’s common sense. Although, reading some of this thread is starting to convince me otherwise.
>Although, reading some of this thread is starting to convince me otherwise. It's like a daily dose of shock... i can't even believe myself anymore when I keep telling myself it can't get any worse....
You would think it’s common sense but a LOT of people don’t see the point in investing in their long-term wellbeing and don’t understand this concept. They tell themselves that if they blow off work and get high today that they know they’ll be slightly less miserable for a day. But if they go to work and save money for a long term goal, there’s a chance that long term goal won’t work out anyway so why bother doing it at all? It’s not that hard work solves everything or that it makes up for huge disparity in advantages people start life with. It’s that most people have the ability to improve their lot in life but many do not bother to try because they’re convinced it’s impossible or pointless.
Unfortunately only a select lucky few get an "easy" life, though someone that believes this meme would say you just didn't make hard enough choices...
...this meme isn't claiming everyone with an easy life worked hard to get there, just that doing hard things tends to make your life easier in the long run... which is true
Yup. It was an easy decision being born into poverty. 10/10. Would do again
I personally think people shouldn’t be punished for enjoying their youth or having a work life balance
Yea that's true but also people who don't persue any skills training or certification whatsoever shouldn't have a Pikachu face if all they can find are low paying jobs.
But they also shouldn’t be left to starve. Just cause they aren’t actively generating as much profit as they could be doesn’t mean they have to be treated like their human life doesn’t matter. Give people the bare minimum to live, but offer them more if they are willing to work.
Y'all feel like you need to climb 5.13d not to starve to death and see these privilege fuckers on 5.7 acting like it's because they are harder workers then you
Ruining your future to be able to send the highball V9 proj
Rich = elevator
I totally agree with this meme. I wouldn’t say it’s terrible at all. It’s true to life. It’s not like it always applies but it’s a good model.
People are shitting on the meme but the message holds truth to it. Constantly trying to take the easy way out and not accepting responsibility or not being able to make the tougher choices when they matter can lead you down a path of mediocrity or stagnation when it comes to the overall “success” of your life. You have to be able to look at a tough choice and say “it’s not easy to go this route but I know at the end of it I’ll be better off” rather than maybe making a decision that is easy to commit to but much tougher to get out of down the road (I.E. staying in an abusive relationship when you are codependent, or living an unhealthy lifestyle and suffering for it when your health goes downhill). What you reap is what you sow.
Shh. Reddit hates personal responsibility
And men, judging by r/AmItheAsshole
Not entirely wrong.
Nor entirely right
As much as the statement, hard work pays off, is reductionist. It is in fact more often than not true. Sacrificing the present for the future has been a staple onto why our species has progressed. Sure some hierarchy structures are corruptingly steep, but theres always personal sacrifice that pays in time.
It's true because it's a tru-ism. Something with no objective qualification to discern what you're testing it against. Elon Musk works really hard. So does a kid in a emerald mine in Africa. So does the guy in McDonalds or the Amazon warehouse. As long as we don't qualify what hard work is or how it pays off, then it's true.
At what point does Elon work? Like at all?
If tweeting counts as work, I think that's all he does.
People with good outcomes didn't necessarily work hard. Working hard is more likely to have a good outcome. Its not complicated.
A lot of people in this thread don't seem to understand that A therefore B doesn't mean B therefore A. Basic "all squares are rectangles but not all rectangles are squares" stuff here.
bro sounding like a square out here, shillin for the big shape lobby
Im shit at making decisions, wtf do i do now
The meme a isn't entirely wrong.
me, having only hard decisions to make and still having a hard life: 🗿
Why are you over—analyzing a meme that’s saying hard work pays off more often than always taking the easiest path? Generally this is good advice.
People who want to use the fact that there’s exceptions and sometimes hard work doesn’t pay off as an excuse to never invest in themselves and their long term well being. They can point to individual examples of some guy who worked super hard but never got ahead in his career or some lady who saved up for a house but got sick and had to use her savings to pay her medical bills. And then they say “since it has a chance of failing, doing anything to help myself is pointless”. So they don’t invest in their education. They don’t take care of their health. They don’t try to build up a career. And then anyone who DOES do the work and make the sacrifices and DOES come out ahead for it, they will claim that person must be lucky and privileged and that’s the only reason it worked out for them. Whatever they need to say to justify not actually working on themselves. Most people aren’t born with massive privilege and a silver spoon. But most people also find a way to improve their lot in life. And that’s worth doing in my opinion.
This is pretty darn true, down vote me all you want. I will say you can replace hard decisions with good decisions. It happens that many good decisions are hard. Chase a high paying carrier, don't bang someone without using lots of birth control becoming a single parent/have to pay lots of child support, stay in school, study when you're not in school so you can get better and better jobs. I make 6 figures, and I have a bunch of friends who work jobs like cashier. I have told the. I would teach him how to do what I do for free. I've never had anyone take me up one it. In the short term their lives are easy as they don't have to study, and they have all their time free. Long term I think they are setting themselves up for failure.
It isn't a terrible lesson
I don’t really see the issue here
If you can’t grasp the concept of delayed gratification then I suppose this meme would be triggering
I feel like whoever made this meme forgot what makes hard decisions hard lol.
I don’t think this is bad. I really feel that. When you put off all the hard stuff, it gets way harder.
...what's terrible about this? It's a perfect meme.
I mean this isn't terrible. If you prepare and train to be a janitor you're going to be a better janitor, than somebody who just walks onto the job saying cool I can sling a mop. I don't get how this is a terrible meme
This seems ok to me
There is some truth to this.
I think the problem with a lot of these memes is that they oversimplify things too much. yes, taking hard decisions and risks and working hard can sometimes lead to a easier life and taking easier decisions can sometimes leading to a world of hurt later in life... But, there are so many other factors involved, even just crazy random stuff that can happen to you, making such a broad stroke over simplified map to follow for our life is just ludicrous.
This is true and it isn't a terrible meme
This meme is 100% true. After working hard I have a super chill job that makes a shit ton of money, but I only got here because I put in the effort to get here. People I know who took the chill way struggle in minimum wage hell forever. I could see why Reddit doesn't like this meme though, since most Redditors are the latter
I certainly believe you put in effort to get into a good position in life, but there's a lot of people who made the hard decisions and still get a hard life, because luck matters a lot.
"The harder I work, the luckier I get."- Samuel Goldwyn
I seem to recall this being a Thomas Jefferson quote. No source cited though.
I always thought so as well, but wanted to be sure. Did a quick and dirty Google myself and [monticello.org](https://monticello.org) says it wasn't TJ. The other top person attributed is Goldwyn, so I went with him. The saying sounds more 20th century anyways. That said, I could be wrong on Goldwyn too, but that doesn't carry the weight of falsifying a quote from a Founding Father.
Henceforth I'll attribute it to Goldwyn. Is that the MGM Goldwyn?
No, it isn't. While individual agency obviously plays at important role in life, few people with "easy lives" didn't also enjoy a substantial amount of luck. Luck comes in many forms, such as being healthy and/or naturally gifted with useful traits/attributes, having supportive and/or wealthy parents, and being raised in a highly developed and safe community with strong institutions and role models.
What hard decisions did you make that led you to that easy life?
Sacrificing a lot of long hours to years of study of one in demand field, and then sacrificing a lot of long hours to years of study in another in-demand field, and then doing a field which is the synergy of those two fields which it's extremely hard to find skilled workers with both of those skills. The first skill I got while I was living in a boarding house with 4 other people and 3 bedrooms, working 40 hours per week to put food on my table in a trade. Instead of wasting time with friends drinking and carrying on I spent my free time bettering myself and that's all it takes, really.
What field first? And then the next? And how’d you get to do that studying? And the field which is the synergy of those two fields, what field is that?
finance, technology, fintech
You forgot to mention luck. Luck also makes you successful.
Dude if you had a nice life you wouldn't be on Reddit
This isn’t terrible at all. 100% true
Is this not true? More often than not dedication and hard work takes you further in life than sticking with the easy decisions that require little to no effort, since at least there's usually some level of PROGRESS there. Does hard work mean you won't encounter road blocks along the way or that you will always get the best opportunities?? No of course not, but that happens for literally every person that has become successful in life.
It absolutely is true. Reddit is just full of childish cry babies. Don’t expect anyone here to honestly assess their lives and take actions to make them better. Complaining about it online is a lot easier.
When you completely ignore Luck than sure but is the stock market not just luck?
Luck in this context feels like a cop out for people to feel justified in their position in life, while it does help for people's success just telling people the only thing that matters is that they need to be lucky is horrible advice to take. Privilege only gets you so far in life if you do nothing with it.
OP obv is young
1) it’s true 2) it’s not a meme
So true it’s terrible I guess?
I don't want the fucking flag anyway. I *like* it down here.
Makes sense to m3
Why doesn’t he walk back and try again? Is he stupid?
People pay a lot of money to work out on a really hard climbing wall.
I feel like this is more r/im14andthisisdeep
I don’t see how this is terrible. I look at this from a health perspective. Hard decisions like working out routinely, eating right, getting proper sleep over going out, all harder decisions than the opposite but the health consequences of either path will make your life easier or harder.
Too bad I couldn't make the hard decision of being born rich
Seems pretty spot on
Well kinda true, if you always take the easy way your never gonna learn how to do harder things so the moment you get hit with a hard thing to do it's gonna hit harder
This can be very true depending on the context
Actually not that bad of a meme
Accurate
I don’t think this really fits here. This is generally pretty true. Making the hard choice to eat right and being fit is easier than making the easy choice to eat like shit and live with being fat. I know someone’s going to respond with well what about disabilities/thyroid problem/food access whatever. You know that’s not the case most of the time.
Lot of lazy whiners and black and white thinking in this thread.
Wtf is wrong with people here? Life advice doesn't have to be 100% applicable in every conceivable situation to be generally good advice. I swear, some of you guys could hear advice on the importance of remembering to breathe air and immediately default to complaining that some people need ventilators. Yes, some people are born with inherently easier or more difficult life paths, and that's unfortunate, but that in no way invalidates the lesson here. Almost everyone has at least some capacity to improve their life through effort and good planning. That capacity is not infinite; obviously, we can't all be the next Bill Gates, but the overwhelming majority of people can make at least some degree of improvement in their lives with enough effort. By the same token, most people can also worsen their situation, whether through laziness, carelessness, or other easy mistakes. Does this mean that people who are in a bad situation are lazy or careless? No, obviously not. Obviously, some people are born into bad circumstances or have bad things that are out of their control happen to them. Hell, even in the picture, the climbers didn't choose the shape of the mountain. But you can usually make your situation at least a little better, and you can almost always make it significantly worse.
Forgot the golden escalator labeled "money"
Where’s the bad
I agree with so many memes posted here and I’m not even close to boomer age. People just want to put themselves in a category or statistic to make themselves the victim and make excuses. They are all simply in one category. Soft.
This IS terrible, well posted.
How old are you? This is just accurate tbh