Was visiting a older gentleman in my family whom I respect. He lives in a very beautiful area and his partner is just the nicest. He’s retired and spends his time fishing.
I was complimenting him and said. ‘You really are a lucky guy.’
he said ‘OH. I hate it when people say that. This was a plan and I worked hard’.
He then told me about how he worked for the same school district for 30 years! And got a pension and spent wisely.
Damn. 30 whole years.
You can’t make plans without a stable environment. This man’s environment was so stable that his plan of “work as a teacher for 30 years” was able to play out successfully. Do you know how few people can even guarantee that their field will exist in 30 years, let alone their specific employer?
some motherfuckers just aren’t able to think this abstractly, and they really, really want to believe they have more agency than they actually do, because to admit that you’re a couple of bad days away from homelessness or worse is scary.