They aren’t poor because they don’t try hard, don’t work hard, aren’t deserving of better things. Mary Pat can look at almost anyone she’s ever known in Commonwealth in particular, or Southie in general, and find nothing but strivers, ballbusters, people who treat ten-ton burdens like they weigh the same as a golf ball, people who go to work day in and day out, and give their ungrateful-prick bosses ten hours of work every eight-hour day. They aren’t poor because they slack off, that’s for fucking sure.
They’re poor because there’s a limited amount of good luck in this world, and they’ve never been given any. It doesn’t fall from the sky and land on you, doesn’t find you when it wakes up every morning and goes looking for someone to attach itself to, there isn’t a damn thing you can do. There are more people in the world than luck, so you’re either in the right place at the right time at the very second luck shows up, for once and nevermore.
Dennis Lehane, “Small Mercies”, 2023
A Bird's Eye View of Fashion, Food, Travel, Culture, Beverage and Curiosity 