I am one of the replies. My parents were poor (they had me when they were both 18), and my father used drugs. He kidnapped me and my brother from my mom when I

I am one of the replies. My parents were poor (they had me when they were both 18), and my father used drugs. He kidnapped me and my brother from my mom when I was 3 and we went on the run. He wasn’t able to keep a job because we kept having to move when the people looking for us got close. My brother and I suffered neglect, and my dad even took out loans using my brothers social security number. He died when I was 15 and I went into a foster home from there. I dropped out of high school and got my GED so I could start working. I was lucky to have found a job at a computer store fixing computers. I managed to parlay that into a career in computers without having to go to college, which I never would have been able to afford anyway. So unless I’m missing something (please let me know) there was no life served on a silver plate here. We used to get food and second hand clothes donated from churches, but I have to imagine that doesn’t count. Of course, I wouldn’t recommend to anyone to go through all that to get a career. There wasn’t any “victim dividend” I received (once I started working, nobody really knew my situation at all, much less gave special treatment), and I don’t think it’s a repeatable path to success. At the same time, there are people with similar stories who used that adversity to drive themselves to ensure they don’t go back there. I spend a lot of time now making sure I have stable financial plans A, B, C, and D, and I recognize they are probably overkill. Many people would have probably started coasting some time ago. But I’m too anxious about it to do that, so I keep working on more stability, which to the outside just looks like ambition.