Originally Posted by Baraka_Guru

I think you're missing the point. It's not that people don't have the will or don't try and try again; it's that sometimes you just don't get anywhere due to circumstances beyond your control. You see, an original use of the bootstrap metaphor was likely applied to people who accomplished what was viewed as impossible. These are the exceptional cases of exceptional circumstances.

Today, the metaphor is used too often: it's used as a means to communicate, "I worked hard to where I am today, and this is why I'm successful." This has trivialized the meaning of the metaphor, which was intended to communicate overcoming the impossible, not overcoming the difficult.

Those who fail to "pick themselves up by the bootstraps" aren't all on welfare. Some of them are working multiple minimum-wage jobs (or near minimum).

If you think that an individual can have anywhere near total control over their own life, you're overlooking a huge swath of reality. No man is an island, and all that.