You are born into your life without choice. But if you are born in India, how you live your life is not yours to determine..

In India, you are born to be Brahmins where those are priests and teachers (Wow, teachers at the top!). Kshatriyas are warriors and rulers, Vaishyas are farmers, traders and merchants,  and Shoudras are labourers (sic).

Even lower than those castes, are the outcasts, the Dalits (called the untouchables) where you are born to clean toilets or sweep streets.  You will note that the Dalits box shown does not even connect to Brama, the Hindu God of creation who some believe originated the cast system.

That is your unchangeable life...where you will remain as long as you are on this earth.

Manusmriti, regarded as the most important and authoritative book on Hindu law dating back to 1,000 years or more before Christ was born, "acknowledges the caste system as a basis of order and regularity of society."

The four castes were then subdivided into about 3,000 castes and 25,000 sub-castes, each based on specific occupations. And the Dalits?

Jamal and friends

You may recall the movie Slum Dog Millionaire which enthralled us all and won the Best Picture Oscar in 2008. It was Jamal Malik, a Dalit/an untouchable, who rose against all of society to win 20 million rupees ($436,000 in U.S. dollars at the time), to the delight of his peers, the downtrodden and movie audiences around the world.

*So now I ask you, isn't this sounding a little uncomfortable, perhaps like how the United States seems to be stratifying, maybe somewhat like this?

• The top 1%, the well off who want for nothing. They wait in no lines, fly anywhere in private aircraft or certainly first class if they are 'the poor rich', do not collect coupons to save $2, see whatever doctors or professionals whenever they need to, own multiple million dollar homes all over the world, borrow incredible amounts of money on their name only, pay modest taxes (if any) for their wealth at a rate lower than almost everyone else and have influence only money can buy.
• The fairly well off are certainly not hurting but close to the top 1% because while lacking just few things, they easily get by with just a servant or two, merely one or two homes and a few more perks.
  
• The middle class live in nice homes with  nice families, friends and lifestyles, have two cars and perhaps a motorcycle or RV with just enough frills to keep them level in the waters of life.
  
• The struggling to keep afloat may work two jobs or have been laid off and/or work for a lesser salary elsewhere, have a modest income with modest savings and perhaps a college loan to pay forever, have insufficient or no health care, clip coupons and stand in line, drive to vacation to see Aunt Milly or the National parks, watch cable television, go out to eat rarely or at McDonalds, play Monopoly and worry about tomorrow.
• The poor and homeless are the most forgotten in every respect. Their resilience is what keeps them going and sometimes that is not enough, there is no upward, bad things happen to them out of their control, no health insurance, food banks to survive, tomorrow is never a good surprise and they are mostly out of mind and out of sight to too many who see them as a nuisance or blight who thankfully do not live near "us."

*I arbitrarily made up the category groupings but, hopefully they convey the thought.

In a New York Times article, Is America on the Way to a Caste System? The evidence of this trend isn't merely anecdotal. The richest 1 % of Americans live nearly 15 years longer than the poorest 1% according to a study in the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA). And that disparity is increasing.

"It's getting impossible to imagine that we're all in this together because the hard truth is we're not... If this continues unabated, we're done... You can't shred the norms of reciprocity that makes social cohesion possible and expect to have a functioning democracy. It's just not going to work."

Are we becoming something of a caste society? Here's a blog post I wrote three years ago, The Red Velvet Rope of Life, that is as just as true today if not more-so. I just reread it and son-of-a-gun, it's pretty right on... and a little funny.

We are not India but we certainly are not the America we should be. If our country is a sinking ship, the well-off may get the life preservers but we will all still get wet... or worse.  So is it "I made it, I keep it"...aka trickle down or "help those who cannot help themselves, no matter how they may try?" Be careful. What you say may sound more socialistic than you think.