If the poor are stigmatized for having cell phones and nice rims, why shouldn’t the rich be stigmatized for owning islands and the courts?

Take pride that you come from moral, hard-working people, no matter how poor they may have been.

The “grasshopper” grew up in a lawyer’s family. He always had what he needed, and though his Dad worked, the family had plenty of free time for leisure. The grasshopper’s family had a private plane and a beautiful home. When the country went to war, the young grasshopper got a college deferment because his family sent him to business school. He grew up and worked as an investment banker making plenty of money.

The ant never had much time for leisure. He never received much schooling and ran away from home at an early age. He joined the army, and when his country went to war he fought on foreign soil. He participated in several big battles but eventually was badly wounded and had to be sent home. He could only receive a full pension from the government if his leg was amputated, but he chose to keep his leg and worked hard to pay his own way in life. Because of his disability he found it difficult to find work and had to lie about his damaged leg in order to get a job. He finally found employment and worked very hard to prove himself and provide for his family. He worked 60 hours a week until he was in his 70s, but because he was an unskilled laborer, he was never able to amass any savings. When he died, he and his wife lived in a tiny rental house with just 4 rooms and no bathroom. He never had a car, indoor toilet or a telephone. Despite the fact that he had fought for his country and worked harder than most grasshoppers, he died virtually penniless.

The “ant” was my grandfather. He fought in WWI and was severely injured at the second battle of Ypres. He survived and was denied a pension because he refused to have his arm amputated. He worked ungodly hours making steel even during the depression. He never asked for charity and would not have accepted it. When he died on his 80th birthday he was virtually penniless. Until the day he died he had to use an outside toilet that was freezing in the winter.

The “grasshopper” could be any number of middle-class/wealthy right wingers who delude themselves into believing that those with less money are undeserving. They invariably think they have money because they are superior, even when they work relatively few hours at cushy jobs, while the working class “ants” bear the biggest burden in time of war and do hard labor with little pay. A recent obscene example of this attitude is the incompetent “bonus babies” on Wall Street.

The moral of this tale is that hard work and sacrifice don’t always coincide with prosperity. Moreover, the prosperous are not always the hardest workers in this world.