It's ironic.
Everything you say about pulling yourself up. It can be done, etc. - well, i'm one of those people, who did that. Honest to God. We do happen, you're absolutely right. Rarely, not inevitably, it takes intelligence, analysis and good luck. And one other thing.
I've given a lot of thought into how I did it. And the ironic thing is, and this is going to be very unfamiliar to you - hbut I'm not from America, I'm from a social democracy. I left home while still in high-school, was effectively homeless for years, DID live on the streets for various reasons, had government handouts, welfare, heavily subsidized education and health benefits unimaginable unless you've lived in such a country, struggled through university admittedly beset with a lot of problems, and half a lifetime later, after starting at absolute zero (literally, zero) today i work in a pretty swish job at an ivy league university in your country and get a fair amount of respect for the job i'm fortunate to have and enjoy.
Here's the truth. No frigging way would i have pulled it off without a social welfare system to help me out. If the shit that happened to me where i am from actually happened here, if i -started- here, i'd be working in a factory. nobody helps out kids like that here, other than occasional church groups, but no where close to the financial and academic extent that i had given to me.
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