Ad astra per aspera

You know how, when you're a kid, everyone tells you to "reach for the stars;" that you can be anything you want to be, do anything you want to do? Well, it makes a nice fairy tale, but it's not true. There are no happily ever afters.

Now, I am a happy connoisseur of fairy tales. I know them all; I have read them all. I love them, but they're not for real life. Snow White sleeps her eternal sleep and Red gets eaten by the wolf. I'm not trying to be a downer here, but I think all that BS you get fed as a kid only sets you up for disappointment. You are told, over and over again that you can do anything you set your mind to but then the first time you attempt something and fail to reach it, you don't know how to handle it. You're not prepared for it. Our socializing has instructed us that we should be able to achieve any goals we set, so if we fail to do that we feel like just that: failures. That there is something wrong with us because we didn't achieve what our culture tells us should have happened. Merely WANTING something badly enough is supposed to BE enough, so why isn't it for those unfortunate few? It is never enough. There's always more to the story, more prerequisites which if you're not fortunate to possess, through natural or artificial means, you're SOL, friend. To those lucky few born to privilege, connections, good looks and natural talents: enjoy them while you have them, and please, occasionally look down on us plebeians scrabbling out a life for ourselves by our fingernails, and just appreciate what you have.