Note: You may have noticed that there is a trend in those Occupy Wall Street posts that I am choosing to reblog. This is by design: I am reposting those entries that I feel best negate the arguments being put forth by the opposition; that is, that the 99 percent are lazy; the 99 percent want a handout; that the 99 percent are living off the system; that the 99 percent just want a free ride. Not so. Take a look.
I am a 24-year-old software engineer. I have a great job and a salary that is ridiculously high for someone my age. I have zero debt and all the insurance I could ever need. But I don’t deserve any of it more than anybody else.
The 1% would like me to believe that I have my salary and great job because I work hard and deserve to be rewarded. But hard work wasn’t what allowed me to:
- be born intelligent
- be born to affluent parents
- have an interest in computers from a young age, which led to my current job
- have parents that supported me in everything I did
- have parents that encouraged me to work when I slacked off
- attend an Ivy League university without taking out loans or paying a cent out of my pocket
All of these are not rewards I received because I worked hard. They are things that I have because I am lucky. Nothing more. I’m not even a hard worker; I’m the laziest person I know. Everyone on this page deserves what I have more than I do.
The 1% have what they have for the same reason I do: luck. But they think that their luck gives them free rein to gamble with other people’s money and destroy our economy just to put a few more dollars in their bank accounts. Well, I say enough.
I am the 99%.
Lola's Curmudgeonly Musings 