I guess everybody gets to define that for themselves.

I was taught nothing is free, and you're not entitled to anything. But I also was taught that if I dealt in good faith with the world, if I was honest and hard working, and if I was fair, I deserved to be treated the same way, and things would tend to work out. I had no guarantees, of course, the world is not fair, it is a random and chaotic place, but I had a right to expect that.

Sure, I know accidents happen. People have runs of luck, good and bad. Sometimes you win the lottery, other times you get hit by a meteor during surgery. But in general, I was taught to work hard, learn to do something useful to others so you can earn an honest living, don't steal from others or profit from their misfortune. Follow the rules and try to be helpful to others, but never forget the world is full of fools and thieves. The purpose of life is not to outsmart everybody else, but to live as well as you can without taking from others.

I wanted to be a great scientist when I was a kid. It didn't work out that way, I just didn't have the suds for it. But I found I had talents that were in demand. I chose to use those talents in a way that helped others, in an area where I felt there was a genuine need, working with the environment and earth resources, locating them, managing them wisely, preserving them as much as possible. I was no crusader, no zealot, but I wanted to say I was part of the solution, not part of the problem. I earned my pay because I did good work and did it well, not because someone else was foolish enough to pay me for it. If the world came to an end, I was just hoping I could remember it was not my fault, and that maybe I delayed it, even if just for a moment.

I didn't always succeed at what I wanted out of life, but I can honestly say I never sold out. Sometimes I suffered degrading, humiliating drudgery, soul-killing
work, but as long as I had obligations I had freely accepted, I felt obligated to endure the hard times. I have been exploited, but never enslaved. And I also learned that sometimes slavery can be very prosperous for the slaves, as well as the slavers. I never felt my labor gave me the right to live off the work of others.

I've been smart, but I've been lucky, too. And I've always tried to know the difference between the two. What are the "fruits of my labors", what I believe I am entitled to, what I signed up for, my share of the social contract, what I believe life owes me? Not wealth, power, success, fame, invulnerability, immortality. Everything comes to an end. All I ask is a little security, comfort, peace, and dignity. I don't think that's too much to ask.