A few days ago I read one of my favorite blogs by the author of Dilbert. While he often says things that some would find surprising to come from a comic, that is merely one of the reasons I follow him. In this post the thing he said that most stood out to me was: "I prefer to divide the world into two groups: People who are trying, and people who aren't." It would seem easy to identify people who aren't trying on the poor side of the scale. Or at least one would assume. Those that come to mind would be the illiterate, dropouts, and perennial welfare/food stamp recipients. That would be wrong to automatically classify them all as people who aren't trying, but there are people from that group in those groups.
Assuming that all who aren't trying are on the disadvantaged side could not be more wrong. Some disadvantaged try the hardest. And some of the most privileged try the least. Talent doesn't define it, ability doesn't define it, money doesn't define it, the only thing that defines those who try are the fact that they try. They fall down seven times and stand up eight. The world gives them lemons and they make lemonade, lemon squares, and cherry Coke just to make the world wonder how they did it.
It also isn't right to assume that just because you said a sinner's prayer or walked the nave of a church that you're good, either. Showing up to church every time the doors open won't do it either. You can still divide the people into those who are trying and those who aren't. Doing so might just surprise you from time to time, too.
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My mom pointed out that the link to download my novella wasn't working right. This is for subscribers, either email or RSS Feed. I think I fixed it, and would have fixed it sooner if I had known I needed to. If you tried before, try again. If it still doesn't work, drop me an email and let me know. Then, when you read it, post a comment and tell me what you think.