Work, Luck, Connections

As we stopped at a red light on the busy Chicago avenue, the Indian cab driver (with whom Jason had been happily chatting since we'd hopped in) asked if he might pose a question to us. Jason, his mom and I all said sure, wondering what might come next. The driver explained that he liked to ask this question to a number of his passengers: did we think, that simply by working hard one could become rich? Why yes, we all readily responded, although I know my answer trailed off towards the end; I was already reconsidering before I'd finished my sentence. As Americans, all of us the near-offspring of immigrants, certainly we had to believe that hard work will bring wealth. The American dream? And a little bit of luck was the afterthought I'd entertained. And maybe it's also who you know... at least in Chicago politics. (You get 43 articles when you search the Chicago Tribune site for the word "patronage.")
He worked 14 hours a day and the driver explained that even working this way for years and years, he would not be rich. Ok, maybe it's about being successful and happy, not the guarantee of wealth.
It was interesting to be confronted with the disspointments of the American dream so unexpectedly. It made it seem like maybe that whole 'work hard' axiom was something invented by the human resources department of a large corporation, seeking to incentivize employees to be more productive, without ever making a plan for how the rewards might be given.