Slur
Growing up, slurs were a common occurrence during school and college days. But it was an equal opportunity abuse - none of us were spared. Oddly enough, that brought us closer because we all poked fun at each other’s identity and shortcomings. The individual disappeared in the collective.
Compensation
In the 21’st century, market forces are pervasive in setting the price of goods for the most part. Therefore, a person’s worth in society is gauged by the capital one generates for oneself. Think of an iPhone you are ready to plunk over a thousand dollars for, willingly. There are very few things in life that you would be willing to spend that kind of money. Should iPhone charge less than the maximum that people are willing to bear? Of course not.
Never sell yourself short. Match your strength to the career that maximizes your worth.
Type I error
When we are young, making mistakes is less expensive and so we should feel free to make errors of commission. i.e. dropping a good status quo situation in favor of a bad situation. This is a Type 1 error and a result of experimentation (adventure!). When we get older, errors of commission can get costly - maybe that is why we stick to the status quo. We become less adventurous.
Experience teaches better than instruction. So the best approach is to experiment when we are young in a controlled environment. e.g. instead of going hiking on your own, hike with a group. The more we experiment when we are young, the wiser we become when we are older.
Theism
All religions have one thing in common: they explicitly or implicitly claim that God created humans in his image. Really? A creature that has caused untold misery to all other life forms and non-life forms. A being that has more hatred for its fellow creatures than any other living thing. Let’s all agree that the planet would have been way gentler without the presence of humans.
