It seems to me that I’ve written about this before. I write so much for myself and others in other places that I often forget where these things are floating around. Admittedly, this is a huge idea that is difficult to break down into something easily consumable. However, I know we have some of the smartest readers on the block, so perhaps someone can convert this into something actionable.

Trumpism specifically and populism in general depends on a grievance state. It’s easy enough. All you need to tell people is that they aren’t achieving as much as they should be and that someone else is to blame for their failure. Obviously, there are two key points here. First, you need to convince people that they are failures. This is a lot easier said than done. You don’t want to overdo it. If you lean on that too much then they think you are insulting them. Of course, the next step is just too easy. You aren’t getting ahead because of this other group of people. The only thing that matters is finding the right scapegoat.

If I use myself as an example, I could say that I did not become a high school counselor like I had planned earlier in my career. I got the masters degree and applied for a lot of openings, but it just never happened. I could point out that sometimes I didn’t fit the demographic they were looking for. There are just not many male counselors in schools. If I were susceptible to grievance then I might start blaming women since they are the ones that hold the position. I might blame other ethnic minorities that seem to get more opportunities than I do. As you might suspect, this would be a mind trick to excuse myself of any culpability.

These are the two incontrovertible facts I come to. First, I am not currently in that position because of the choices I have made. There were times where I could have stayed on a campus and worked my way up to that level. There are other times when there are certain things I could have done outside of my job to prepare myself for that opportunity. I did not do those things. The second fact, is that I am better off where I am and actually am able to do more good performing the job I currently have. Naturally, this is not all about me, but our stories are common. Come across just about anyone and they could tell you that they could have gotten further and made more money if things had turned out differently.

Gratitude is easy enough and yet so elusive at the same time. I got opportunities others did not get. Many of us could say the same. Acknowledging that is the hard part. Acknowledging that we are where we should be is hard. Acknowledging that we are where we are because of choices we have made is even harder. So, finding a way to convince people that they should be thankful for what they do have sounds like a near impossible task. Furthermore, convincing them that they don’t have that dream job because of themselves is also hard. It’s so much easier to pick out a group to blame. Being happy in our skin seems so simple and yet so complicated. Maybe someone out there can find a way to make this actionable and not philosophical.