Of course their actions have bearing on where they are now if life. But luck does, too. Many women with bastard children still can live happy and even prosperous lives. Shit, here in the USA, I think it's common -- If they are lucky enough to be blessed with good looks/personality, they often find husbands who can improve their lives and maybe even live happily ever after. You've heard of this happening, haven't you? If this doesn't happen, then sure luck plays a big role. Now, I think we're in agreement that if you're smart and industrious and determined, you can really make luck play a small role. But it will always play some role. Always.
and thus the chink in the armour of your theory.
Yes some ppl will be offered opportunities that others are not, this can be based on a number of things lets say as in your example looks.
The pretty girl gets courted by a succesful gentleman and is wined and dined until they get married in which she never has to work again.
Lets take a completely opposite person and say she is so ugly that nobody wants to date her. Well this may seem like a hindrance but you see it opens up other opportunities for her. The less time spent with a significant other means she can devote more time to education and bettering her situation through other means.
You guys think that simply because ppl dont have the same opportunity they are getting screwed.
If you ever get a chance to read malcom gladwells outsiders I encourgage you to do so, it goes hand in hand with you utopian view.
one point he made was that those kids who have birthdays just after cut offs for sports tryouts generally seem be bigger as they have a whole year to grow as opposed to those kids with birthdays just before the cutoff. This means they are bigger, b/c they are bigger and more cordinated they are given more attention by the coaches, this leads to more playing time, which leads to making select teams, which leads to more coaching and so on and so on until you begin to see a grouping of birth dates around these cut offs in high school, college and pro athletics.
What he also mentions however is that the kids whos birthdays are just before the cut off while they may not exceed in sports do tend to outperform the other group in school, music, art etc...
opportunities are all around us, its just recognizing them and capitalizing on them that makes you successful.
