Yours exactly mirrors my own experiences with people who have chronic problems in life. It has been dispiriting in some ways, but freeing in others. The feeling of “if I could just do <x> for them” gives way to an acceptance about the limits of our power to influence others and an accompanying lightening of emotional burden.

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bko 2 days ago | parent [-]

It's really hard accepting this, which is why I believe younger people are more naive. It's easier to believe everyone is a victim, but with enough life experience and experience a larger variety of people, you learn that not everyone is just like you. There are huge discrepancies in competence, seriousness, work ethic and a million other things.

Victims absolutely exist, but the best working assumption is that someone has the results they have due to personal decisions. And this equally applies to yourself. If you feel something is wrong or missing in your life, it's best to assume its based on decisions that you made.

	▲	simonask 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		Isn’t it pretty obvious that it’s possible to be a victim of more than specific financial circumstances or poor health? The inheritance we (don’t) get is not just monetary, it is attitude, culture, expectations, education, network, class privilege, race privilege, and a host of other things that make it difficult to act “rationally”, or which change the parameters of what is rational for each individual. Lack of money never helps, but it’s rarely the only problem.