“There is no excuse for not moving up the Pyramid. All it takes is a little bit of education, planning, and determination.”
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.
@ 2023 Pegasus Publications Inc.