Hacker News Reader

Comment by h4waii | Hacker News Reader

All platitudes aside, comparison really is the thief of joy.

Lots of people have very different situations from what they project (witting or unwittingly), they might be running up debt to pay for their lifestyle or maybe they have profitable small side businesses, and bartend for the bills and social aspect.

Focus on your journey, and where you are on the path, don't get distracted with people "passing" you on shorter, longer, or completely different paths.

View on HN

Certainly. My point was largely that poor vs wealthy is often hard to actually tell.

In the case of the bartender, this wasn't actually a hypothetical: I have more than one friend in this exact situation - they got one good inheritance, are waiting on another, and in the meantime live rent free at a parent's property. In both instances they even get aid from the state.

While they appear poor on paper (and they often describe themselves as poor), they have tremendous resources at their disposal.

I know someone who was doing the equivalent of the bartending thing. Her grandfather was loaded and all major expenses taken care of. She kept it quiet but would give coworkers a ton of shit for general life things that she didn’t have to worry about. “sorry I’m late I had a flat tire.” “That’s not an excuse. You should have found a way to get new tires so you’re not late like me.”

Reply on news.ycombinator.com