Cause I'm Happy!!!!!

I was always taught that you can either be happy, productive and proactive  or you can be angry, unproductive and reactive. In the scheme of thing that does not give you many options but when you think about it, it does.
Warren Buffett says that his success has been based on a variety of factors including genetics, geography and time. He was born white and male in America.  He was born at a time where all of that mattered and he took advantage of the opportunities that were presented to him. With all of those factors combined, he became one of the riches men in the world instead of a guy who runs a service station. The fact that his father was a congressman and he lived an upper-middle class childhood in Omaha Nebraska during a depression that divested  many families  and killed many dreams .  Mr. Buffett took what was given to him and worked toward his success. When he was rejected, he regrouped when he was successful, he did not sit on his laurels but went on to seek his next success. I guess you could say that Warren Buffett was happy, productive and proactive. He took what he had and made his success.
When I look at myself, I also have to look at what gifts were given to me and how they can help me to achieve success. I was not born white or upper middle class. Although I was born male albeit a black male that for me is to my disadvantage. Up to 50% of all black males in America are either unemployed, incarcerated or addicted to some sort of drug. We are not seen a a good risk for anything and even if we are not one of those statistics many people think we are. With the exception of currently being out of work, I am the exception to all of the above-mentioned stats.  I do not use drugs or alcohol, I am well educated and I have never been to jail.
I could dwell on the negative, the discrimination and the lack of opportunities available to someone of my race , age and sex and out my head back under the covers but there are many factors that keep me from doing this.  The most obvious of these is that I only meet one of the above-mentioned stats and I only meet that one is  because of the current  economic situation. I am well educated with
a great deal of experience. I come from a good family that is very supportive of me and my attitude is positive and upbeat .
When I think about it yes I am a black male in America so I am not at the top of the success tree. It could be worse, I could be a black male in Brazil or a variety of Latin American or African countries or in Europe for that matter. As things go, America is one of the best places to be black. If I lived in Brazil for instance, I would probably be living on the streets in abject poverty. If I lived in France I might be living in the high-rise ghettos that blacks are relegated to. In America where our success rate is not as high as it should be , we occupy the White House and are CEO's of major corporations, have a seat on the Supreme Court and own several lucrative business and have won many high awards like the Noble Prize and the Pulitzer Prize. Maybe as a whole statistically we have not achieved as much as white men but we are not white men we are black men in a society that practices racism .
When I think about this, I feel that I have just as good of a chance at success as any man 'cause I'm happy and because I am the exception not the rule.