I couldn’t agree more. The idea that “working hard and smart leads to success” is “toxic” in so. Any ways one of which you’ve explained. The other is how it le

I couldn’t agree more. The idea that “working hard and smart leads to success” is “toxic” in so. Any ways one of which you’ve explained. The other is how it leads successful people to (often falsely) believe that their success is mainly attributable to their hard work and intellect, and assume moral superiority over other less successful people. Somehow it eludes people that while “hard” work and “being smart” is generally a virtue, there’s often situations in life where one can’t consciously control the outcome. Instead of (implicitly?) measuring the virtue (or even “worth”) of people by how successful they are, perhaps society as a whole should start recognizing that most people probably already gave their best regardless of eventual outcome, and while some might be more “lucky” than others by some metrics, in the end we are all human beings and everyone deserves the same level of respect.