Climbing the Pyramid

Social-scientists use an imaginary Pyramid to illustrate how society classifies people on a social-economic scale. People who are the least educated and have the least wealth live in the bottom layers of the Pyramid. Many of these bottom dwellers are illiterate and have poor language skills; many do not have a job, and many are homeless. The one percent of the population who live at the top of the Pyramid control over one-half of the world’s wealth. The fifty-five percent living at the bottom of the Pyramid, control only one percent of the world’s wealth. In Canada, everyone has access to education and opportunities, everyone is free to move up, or down, the Pyramid.

There is a fear if too many people move upwards, the Pyramid will become top-heavy and topple over. Some believe to keep bottom-dwellers in their place, they should be kept uneducated, ignorant, and dependent on others for their needs. Despite this, many bottom-dwellers have managed to climb high up the Pyramid. To begin the upward journey, as Mark Twain advises, one must abandon the fantasies and fairy tales that have been taught in and out of school and learn how the real-world works. A person who refuses to read is no better off than one who cannot read. Climbing skills may be learned by reading Benjamin Franklin’s, The Way to Wealth, along with his autobiography. Other recommended authors are Gerald Massey, Robert G. Ingersoll, Mark Twain, Charles Darwin, Thomas Paine, Joseph Atwill, Robertson Davies, and especially Dr. Orison Swett Marden, whose life was a true rags-to-riches saga. You will learn, there is no need to rob others. You can increase your wealth and status just by improving yourself. For a family to remain at the top, it usually takes three generations to climb the Pyramid, with each generation becoming more educated and talented than the previous one. A parent’s ceiling should be their children’s floor.

A quick climb often results in a quick descent. One must move up a little bit, grow accustomed to the new environment, and then move up a little more. Peter Nygård is an example of someone who wanted to run up the Pyramid. He lost his footing and found the Pyramid to be a slippery slope as he slid to the bottom. Was this a case of “pride comes before a fall”, or possibly, an example of how someone may be corrupted by money and power?

In George Bernard Shaw’s play, Pygmalion, Eliza Doolittle, a street urchin, is accepted into aristocratic society as one of their own after she is educated and groomed by Professor Higgins. This play is a satire, pointing out that the idea of blue bloods is all fiction and fantasy. We are all the same, ALL-ONE, and it is our environment that shapes us. Pygmalion was made into a popular musical, My Fair Lady.

Sir Sydney Poitier is a real-life example of how a person may, with a little effort, change their speech and mannerisms to fit into a different stratum of society. Growing up in The Bahamas, Poitier spoke a Bahamian patois, and had Bahamian mannerisms. After arriving in Florida at age fifteen, Poitier learned how to imitate upper middle class American speech and behaviours. Many people who knew Poitier, believed, because of his language skills and personality, he must have been university educated, when, in fact, he had almost no formal education, having attended a one-room schoolhouse on Cat Island, in The Bahamas.

Libraries have thousands of biographies of people who have moved upwards like Poitier. Living in a society which allows freedom of choice, we all can follow Poitier to a higher level on the Pyramid. On which level do you want to live?

Many people have received a first-class university education for very little money, often for free. There are many books which explain how this may be done. Some people have obtained scholarships while others have worked at menial jobs to pay their tuition. Many have found jobs at a university which gives free tuition to employees. Thousands have learned how they may, with a small fee, challenge final exams without ever having attended any classes. Textbooks may be borrowed or purchased second-hand at a reasonable cost. Studying on one’s own teaches much-needed skills in self-discipline. Where there is a will, there is a way. Many at the top of the Pyramid have little formal education, but, like Andrew Carnegie and Henry Ford, they never stopped reading and learning from books, many of which are available for free in local libraries.

There is no excuse for not moving up the Pyramid. All it takes is a little bit of education, planning, and determination.