I was at a party once, which I didn't really want to be at but didn't really have a choice, and everyone was taking drugs and I was hiding in the corner. I started speaking to the only other guy who was also hiding in the corner and it turned out he was a heroin addict. He was quite open about it. He was talking about his life, and after about half an hour of him talking I thought, "this guy had no chance."
I mean, I grew up in a lower-middle class home. There was always food, 2 parents, a roof over my head, education. I had so much luck that when I made a whole bunch of mistakes (to the point that I was hiding in a corner speaking to a heroin addict), I could call up Mum and Dad and move home. This guy had none of that, and worse, people were actively trying to make money off him the entire time. His friends had got him addicted to heroin and then sold it to him, for example. The reason he was sat in the corner for so long was because he'd been late paying his heroin bill so the drug dealer was making him wait until he started to suffer withdrawal before he got some more.
The next day he died of a drug overdose. I stood there in the crowd as they took his body out of his flat. The same friends who'd sold him the drugs were saying things like, "that fucker owed me £20! If you're going to OD you'd at least cash your dole check and pay your mates back first?!"
> There was always food, 2 parents, a roof over my head, education. I had so much luck that when I made a whole bunch of mistakes (to the point that I was hiding in a corner speaking to a heroin addict), I could call up Mum and Dad and move home.
Interestingly, this is one of the biggest predictors for incoming:
> If the income factors all seem obvious, this next finding may be more surprising: Your parents' marriage and family stability might be the biggest determinant [of income] of all. Growing up in a single-parent household significantly hurts a child's chance of upward income mobility, the study finds.
So sure, I guess generosity is all the rage, but decent families is better in the long run.
> There was always food, 2 parents, a roof over my head, education. I had so much luck [...] This guy had none of that, [...] His friends had got him addicted to heroin and then sold it to him, for example.
I dunno. I mean, one could have everything you cited and still let his friends get him addicted. And there's people having no chance at all while still staying far from drugs. A personal and non-learnt-by-example inclination to self-preservation and survival may be a bigger factor than sheer luck (IMHO).
> We know that a stable two-parent household is one of the best predictors of the child's future success.
Which I'm not denying. OTOH, not having that is not the best predictor of falling into drugs. My point was that a starting point is not the full journey.
> The same friends who'd sold him the drugs were saying things like, "that fucker owed me £20! If you're going to OD you'd at least cash your dole check and pay your mates back first?!"
I mean, I grew up in a lower-middle class home. There was always food, 2 parents, a roof over my head, education. I had so much luck that when I made a whole bunch of mistakes (to the point that I was hiding in a corner speaking to a heroin addict), I could call up Mum and Dad and move home. This guy had none of that, and worse, people were actively trying to make money off him the entire time. His friends had got him addicted to heroin and then sold it to him, for example. The reason he was sat in the corner for so long was because he'd been late paying his heroin bill so the drug dealer was making him wait until he started to suffer withdrawal before he got some more.
The next day he died of a drug overdose. I stood there in the crowd as they took his body out of his flat. The same friends who'd sold him the drugs were saying things like, "that fucker owed me £20! If you're going to OD you'd at least cash your dole check and pay your mates back first?!"