Where They Are Wrong

People are not motivated by the same things. Moreover, people need to be encouraged more linearly along the lines of Maslow’s hierarchy. Maslow’s tool is useful in the most primal predictive approach, but even Maslow pointed out that people willingly reject the fulfillment of lower needs to achieve a level of self-actualization that would otherwise be beyond reach. 

Self-actualization was woefully misused in the 1990s pseudo-intellectual educational academia. As much as some long-suffering public school teachers would like to take credit for a student’s future achievements, self-actualization cannot be thought of in some Socratic scholastic environment. Self-actualization comes, as the term implies, from within one’s self. It is a personal vision of what might be if the individual reaches for it. Those achievements are reached by something other than bruitish accounting of the most sensual level of achievement. 

Your pennies, centavos, solas, and pence are dismissed by many. There is no doubt that wealthy people are gifted; it cannot be overlooked that many have the same moral status as Juan Escobar. Moving comodotes, or leasing software,  which creates an addictive need in the consumer, is not a high calling. The medical community only treats what they think people will pay to treat. There are a few examples otherwise, but those few didn’t occur in the last 50 years, except for the individuals who risked their own lives in the early days of the fight against COVID-19 (those individuals were self-actualized).  

According to Oxford University, about 5% of caregivers in one particular study of the statistics from the earliest days of the pandemic became ill, and of that 5%, 86% were symptomatic (Piapan, L., De Michieli, P., Ronchese, F., Rui, F., Peresson, M., Segat, L., D’Agaro, P., Negro, C., Bovenzi, M., & Larese Filon, F. (2022). COVID-19 outbreaks in hospital workers during the first COVID-19 wave. Occupational medicine (Oxford, England), 72(2), 110–117. https://doi.org/10.1093/occmed/kqab161). That is actual Self-Actualization!

Unfortunately, more of us are forced to look at this example of the Pharmaceutical industry:

“In 2007, Mylan N.V. acquired the right to market EpiPen as part of its acquisition of Merck KgaA. In 2009, Mylan began to steadily increase the price of EpiPen. In 2009, the wholesale price (the price that pharmacies paid) was $103.50 for a two-pack of autoinjectors. By July 2013, the price was up to $264.50, and it rose a further 75 percent to $461 by May 2015. By May of 2016, the price rose again to $608.61. Over seven years, the price of EpiPen rose about 500% in total” (Miyashiro, A. K. (2017, September 14). Mylan’s EpiPen Pricing Scandal. Seven Pillars Institute. https://sevenpillarsinstitute.org/mylans-epipen-pricing-scandal/#:~:text=In%202009%2C%20Mylan%20began%20to,%24461%20by%20May%20of%202015). This is just greed.

While it’s true that wealth can be a result of belief and determination, it’s not a guarantee. Growing up in poverty doesn’t necessarily mean a life of riches, but it also doesn’t mean a life devoid of success. The world is full of unpredictable stories of triumph, and it’s these stories that remind us of the endless possibilities that lie ahead. 

Ultimately, each of us has unique aspirations, our own ‘star in our own heaven, ‘if you will. It is important to pursue these goals without being overly concerned about what others are or may achieve. Believe in yourself, and go for it!