The things that tend to hold us back are found nowhere else but within. Commandments like "Thou shall not steal, Thou shall not kill" sound nice on paper, but in reality they can be hindrances preventing you from reaching success.

Not everyone is fortunate enough to walk a path righteous success. Indeed, some people are never given an opportunity to have a decent start on their life. Does a black guy whose parents died at an early age stand the same chance as the privileged ones? Does a young adult from Russia who was unfortunate enough to experience 90s stand the same chance at getting rich as the privileged ones? Does a Indian guy who was born into a lowest cast have the same opportunities to ascend to the top? Most of the time the answer will be no (but exceptions to the rule always exist). The society is not kind to those people, and thus they either adapt and thrive, or perish like the rest of the rabble. Reality for these people can be described the famous words of the 50cents; “Get Rich Or Die Trying”.

My goal is not to promote a complete avoidance of morals and ethics, but rather to give an opportunity to understand why sometimes these elements can ruin our lives, and thus should be bent. My goal is to promote a more pragmatic approach. Don't let the belief that somebody else created for you, cloud your judgement. We are all animals at the end of the day, walking pieces of meat that have been given 60-90 years of life on this rock. Don't let that short life fall by the wayside simply because somebody told you "that is not right".

Humanity takes pride in the fact that we have transcended our animalistic origins and created a society that is above the nature, but my question is; have we? Our main imperative is to fight for survival, procreate and ensure success in the environment we are in. We set ourselves and our own before others, in which there's inherently nothing wrong. You see, All animals are selfish, not only animals, every living being in this world are selfish as they all fight for their survival. Survival in itself is selfishness, because in order to survive, we have to make someone else a loser.

When two predators battle over territory in wild, they do so either to the death, or to the point where the other one gives up and leaves. Majority of the times, due to the wounds and lost resources, the loser would end up being dead anyway. It's not right, but what other choice do you have when success (survival) is on the line? It's either you, or him. Same can be applied to real life situations in today's society. When a successful person meets an individual with even more potential than him, it is for the best interest of the lesser successful person to remove the better one from the equation. It does not matter how, but it is prudent to remove a potential threat by any means necessary – because if you don't, you'll end up just like the predator that ended up losing his territory; unsuccessful.

"A lot of rambling so far, but what is the point?" - you may ask.

Weight the opportunity vs your belief very carefully, because the answer isn't always as clear as it may seem. Society teaches you to act right, be altruistic and follow certain set of morals and ethics set by none other but the society it self. "Thou shall not kill, steal...", yet why is that individuals willing to do these forbidden "rituals" do better than those who do not? Why is it normal for a politician to steal millions, and then be heralded as a hero?

Because they don't follow rules that have been set by the society. Those rules, are a shit test a very powerful shit test, but a shit test nonetheless. And to pass it - to succeed, you'll have to break it. But you have to be smart and think outside the box in order to pass it. While the politician that stole millions is a hero, the guy who stole a sack of potatoes ends up serving decades in jail.

Here's a story to round it off and give you a good example.

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90s during the fall of the Soviet Union. This was a difficult time for the people of the former Soviet. The infrastructure fell apart, the little available work that was possible pretty much disappeared, army was in disarray and a lot of soldiers lost their bread and butter and had nowhere else to turn to. People suffered. It was quite normal to form long lines in order to get stuff like DIAPERS for your child. Don't get me started on the rest....

What few people know about this time is that, a lot of people – in the higher positions of course, knew in advance when the shit would hit the fan. A family member of mine was a “Podpolkovkin”(Liutenant Colonel) on one of the many military bases In Russia. He had a good friendship with other two commanding officers that were higher than him (Colonel and General), and was given an opportunity to join on a deal that kind of went against the norm, and more importantly, his morals.

They planned on selling the weaponry and then flee the country. The risk was high, as they were sure that repercussions would follow. History has proven that very few arms dealers ended their life on a high note – yet these people were still willing to risk it. Why? Because they had nothing to lose, and everything to gain. Life in Russia was uncertain, and to be honest, the future seemed pretty bleak. These weapons were the last chance, the last opportunity life had given these individuals to get out of the gutter. They took it.

Podpolkovnik on the other hand declined. Having spent over 20 years serving a country that no longer existed, he was tired of it all, and thus ended up demobilizing. He was a kind individual with strong morals and a certain charm to him. He was a guy so naive, so ignorant of human nature that it actually served him well - it attracted people who knew the reality. We are seldom lucky enough to meet people so pure, and believe me, having met such a person, I do really enjoy the discussions we tend to have. I believe what attracted the Colonel and General to him was his pure nature, a nature you could "let your guard down around".

I wish not to disclose all the details about how it went, as I had the opportunity to talk to these people - was invited to a party where the old timers met up. What I'm gonna say is that it was a very hard road, and it goes without saying that they skeletons in their closet, big ones. Yes, as I look at the finishing line of these 2 guys (late 70s), I believe they played a very good game with the hand they've been dealt. I also do not believe they could have achieved, what they've achieved - in terms of success, by following societal rules.

My family member is quite well off. He has a house, a cars, earns quite a lot of money by Russian standards. He's not a millionaire, but he's probably close to upper middle class of America. Meanwhile his two good friends are multimillionaires that own several villas and yachts in Europe and North America.

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You don't have to agree with me. My goal writing this was to open your eyes. If you get an opportunity to do a morally questionable thing, don't dismiss it at once - think. If you have nothing to lose, but everything to gain - what's stopping you?