[Rain Man]

I suspect that global situations are as large or larger than our own abilities. I'm better off than my parents were at my age, but they got caught in a societal vice. They grew up in a rural area and never really had the opportunity to go to college, and then got caught by the move from a blue collar economy to a services economy. They started out strong in the old economy, but then got left behind when the economy changed.

I, on the other hand, grew up in a perfect window of time to have access to a college degree, and to have access to an inexpensive college degree. While I will give myself some credit for career planning and financial planning, I was born into a great window of time in society compared to my parents' time at the same ages.