Heroic Merit

It has been said by many and is a well known fact, but I will say it again. The game is fixed. The socioeconomic status of your parents, the color of your skin, the width of your cheekbones, the location of your birth, the physical and mental aptitude granted to you by upbringing and genetics – these are the factors which determine how successful you will be with your pursuits in life.

First let me make clear that this is a short and simple essay on a massive and complex topic. It does not seek to give a comprehensive account of inequality, and nor should probably any single essay. With that said, I will anemically define inequality as: the unfairness of the game of life, and the circumstantial privileges granted to some and not others, which determine the amount of success one achieves in this game.

The definition of inequality depends on the definition of success. What does it mean to be successful? How do you win the game of life?

In fact, this game has no rules yet agreed on by everyone. Many people believe that they are ahead in the game, while in another's perspective on life, that same person is coming in dead last. We often turn towards wealth accumulation as a measure of victory, but the spiritual game played by blissful monastic souls is also common, as is the game of the socialites who occupy themselves with strengthening and expanding their network. Even helping others can fall into the category of a gamified discipline. One may find ways to live life that escape the "game" schema, but if these methods exists, then they are quite rare – particularly in Western society.

Everyone plays life differently, but game rule-sets share one thing in common: some individuals do better, and some do worse. There are winners. They tend to be people who work the hardest and come from the best circumstances. We see the winners on the Billboard Hot 100, at Nobel prize ceremonies, on the back cover of an influential book, or on a list of Instagram profiles with over 100 million subscribers. We see them, and internalize them. Silhouettes of the successful and famous become firmly etched into the structure of our brains. Like baby ducks, we tumble clumsily towards these imprinted heroes.

In the culture of American meritocracy, a pervasive idea exists that hard work can get you anywhere regardless of your circumstances. With a little elbow grease you can pull yourself out of a ditch to become like your heroes and embody your personal definition of success.

At best this American mantra cannot be proved, but probably it is false.

The killing flaw of the idea that "hard work wins the game", is the fact that people tend to work harder towards their passions when they have the circumstantial privilege to do so – when they have financial security, when they have opportunities for growth, when they have great teachers, and when they aren’t experiencing hunger, racism, sexism, or loneliness. Of the winners that we idolize, many achieve their success simply by being in the right place at the right time. The real winners and heroes have beat the odds and found success in spite of circumstantial setbacks, and these folks are few and far between.

As someone who has been circumstantially birthed into privilege, and thus been given opportunities to achieve success (in a variety of definitions of the term), I hope you’ll trust my suggestion to reflect on your heroes. Idolize those who have had to trek the greatest distance, not those who started a few feet from the finish line.