>OTOH, who your parents and ancestors were counts for a lot in what you start out with in the lottery of life.
>Absolutely.
>It's probably the single most important influence on the direction of someone's life.
>
>Really? I really must have won the lottery of life. I was a battered child - the first memory I had of my father was when he put me in the hospital with 3 broken ribs at the age of 5. And my mother was mentally ill. Boy, I sure won that lottery, didn't I? That has to me the most ridiculous thing that I have ever heard.

If you won that lottery, I would hate to lose.

My mental patient father abandoned me, my mother and unborn little brother before I was 2.
My step-father was an alcoholic gambler.

None of that matters.
My mother taught her 4 children a few simple things:
* Don't steal, not even accidentally.
* Don't judge anybody by their race or skin color.
* If you want to blame others for your problems, it won't fix anything.
* The world does not owe you anything.

The rest was up to us to figure out.