Guest post on out-of-fashion empathy and compassion in America

A friend of a friend posted the following on his Facebook page about wealth and privilege in America (name changed for privacy): "Dave, you and I have had the benefit, since the day we were born, of living in a society that has invested most generously and opened the most doors of opportunity for males, who are white, married, etc. It simply is not true that I have earned all the advantages given to me on account of my hard work. Yes, I have worked toward goals, but I've been encouraged to do so, not told that I should not because of my sex or skin color. Yes, I have been responsible, but only because responsibility has been entrusted to me in a way that few women and persons of color are given the opportunity. Not to recognize that women, immigrants and others face enormous hurdles that I have never faced would be willful blindness. And then to reason that numerous tax benefits given to people with higher income (benefits that I have increasingly benefited from as my income has risen) are not at the expense of people who work harder for less income is just selfish. I am truly disappointed in the assumptions made about the poor in this discussion -- that they are less willing to work, that they are less "educated," that they seek to take advantage of others who think they work harder or are more deserving of wealth. One wonders if anyone in this conversation actually knows people who live in poverty, has actually listened to them in depth, has lived alongside them, knows anything about their hopes, and the values they hold, including what they think about the common good of all."