how classy

the quote, "What a man is depends on his character; but what he does, and what
we think of what he does, depends on his circumstances. The characteristics that
ruin a man in one class made him eminent in another." is a pretty profound thing. This is saying that the situations and opportunities presented to a person are the reasons why someon acts a certain way, which ultimately leads us to judge the persons actions. In other words, his class dictates what he does and how we view what he has done. I think this quote is very true in our society, if you are in the poor class your opportunities are far different from someone who is rich. you act differently, you do things differently and you think differently. the example mr. smith gave us is a good one. you will look differently at an aggressive real estate agent versus an aggressive sanitation worker. theyre both good jobs, but the sanitation worker is associated more with a lower class than a real estate agent. people look at the sanitation worker differently only because his job is seen as somethin done by the poor who dont have the means to a college education and a "succesful" job. he is not judged by how he works, his personality, etc., but by his class. i think work ethic is a great example of this. take for example a hard working drug lord and a hardworking ceo. from first glance, we immediately assume the drug lord is of a lower class and is up to no good. now, the ceo is a rich, nice gentleman. but i think if you look closer a lot of the times you can see that the drug lord worked extremely hard to get to were he is, even if it is an illegal business. the ceo most likely has been pampered and praised his whole life, and has lived only in the upper upper class. because of where the drug lord came from and his circumstances a life of crime might be the only way to success. whereas a ceo usually is from a rich family without a pressing need for cash. it pretty much boils down to success. different classes have different routes to success, and as you go down in class it gets less and less respectable. i think this is all due to society. the drug lord could be a hard working businessman with no oppotunities. people are judged by what they do, and not how, or what circumstances occurred to make that life the only life possible. we look to closely at the outside of people, the clothes, cash, cars, that we forget to look at "what a man is"