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05 February 2025
If you start out poor, you adopt the social burden and social privilege of being poor. The burden might be that people look at you as lazy, criminal, or some other negative epithet. The privilege is that you don't have to have the social burden of being wealthy. Wealthy people are responsible for all the things they don't do to help other people, perhaps among other things.
If you start out poor, naturally you might seek to become more wealthy, and you might succeed. As you become wealthy, you might naturally enough enjoy the benefits of being seen as a respectable citizen. But when will you start to adopt the social burden of being wealthy? There may not be a nice, clean line between being poor and being wealthy. You sort of have to stumble on the new identity, perhaps at an awkward moment.
It's similar with growing up. When are you really an adult, to be "tried as an adult"? While there might be watersheds you can discern in hindsight, or moments of initiation, largely, adulthood sneaks up on you. And if you do not think of it, you may never really adopt the identity of adulthood, with its burdens and vision.
It's also similar with illness -- when are you well, and now you need to bear the burdens a well person must bear? Or with burnout, when have you recovered enough from burnout that you can go run another race?