*audrey assad* | Life Below 14th Street: I am not the 99%, I am the 1%. Is occupation the answer?

Life Below 14th Street: I am not the 99%, I am the 1%. Is occupation the answer?

Thank you, Chad, for writing this and pointing out the entitlement that I also find very disheartening. This issue strikes both a nerve and a chord with me, as I walk this line all the time and strive to stay on the right side of it.

I was going to leave this as a comment on your blog post (posted below) but it got so long that I thought it might be obnoxious :)

My dad is completely self-made—no college education—and he owns and/or operates multiple businesses, including an insurance agency and a burgeoning motivational speaking career. He’s on the downtown development board in his city and teaches time management/efficiency strategies to companies. He makes 24 hours of work fit into 12 and still makes time to enjoy his life. Entrepreneurship and ownership of one’s successes AND failures has been modeled to me throughout my entire life, and I am really grateful for it.

I’ve never had a credit card and I couldn’t afford college so I just didn’t go. I’ve worked a job since I was sixteen, and I waited to move out of my parents’ house till I was actually able to support myself (I was 24). When I moved to Nashville to pursue music and I quit my full-time job to go on the road, there were many, many weeks where I had to live off of $20 or less (basically all the change I could find in my car and house) after paying my rent and car payment. I did it, and some of my fondest memories are from those weeks, like driving to Sonic at 3pm for half-price slushies with my roommate and feeling like a queen.

Slow and steady really does win the race. Not to say that winning the race means being unfathomably wealthy, because that’s not what it’s about. Building a better culture and societal infrastructure and leaving something for our children to build upon in their own time is not merely a matter of money—good character, and its work ethic (and its pointed lack of entitlement) is paramount.

I am the proud daughter of an immigrant from Syria, whose dreams and laboring I hope I can honor and perpetuate by my own dreams and hard work.

Audrey

lifebelow14th:

I came across this photo the other day. I must admit that I 100% agree with this persons take on the whole “Occupy Wall Street” movement. I know this is something people are very passionate about and of course, on the surface, what it looks like is a very noble cause. The problem is simple,…