Circumstance is Everything

As pointed out by people as far back as Aristotle, and more recently Malcolm Gladwell, author of such fine works as "Outliers" and "Blink,"  authors and historians have always understood the importance of circumstance in terms of a persons ability to succeed in life.  I believe it was Aristotle who stated the importance of not being of "ignoble" birth or class in order to have great success in life in his book entitled "Ethics." 

Unfortunately, class systems have formed in all great democracies since its existence.  As much as we would like to believe that there are no "haves" and "have-nots"  in our society, a demarcating line divides us all in terms of socio-economic status and ability to achieve. Circumstance clearly dictates success and ability to achieve great things in life.  I, for one, think that this dividing line should not exist when it comes to health related issues, and believe in the idea that health in society should be the glue that binds it together, rather than ripping it apart.

This being said, I am entirely optimistic that in the near future, we, as a society, will start to shift towards believing that even the "underserved,"  "outliers" of our population MUST be taken care of and treated like human beings, just like the rest of us.  If we continue to fundamentally attribute success with the person and not their circumstances, we will never truly be the shining light from which future societies model themselves from.   The status quo illustrates that we have not even broached our full potential.