I never discounted his effort and hardship he may have had to endure to get to where he is now. I'm just refuting his point about people being overly negative about this industry.. it seems easy for him to say, because he is settled with a great career. Who WOULDNT be happy flying a 757, getting paid 308k/yr at an airline that's not going to go bankrupt or furlough any time soon? Not saying it was easy for him to GET there. But everyone can work as hard as he did, but still, most won't get the job.
and you're right, I think more than ever that luck has so much do with it.. if he had gotten hired by and chosen a passenger airline instead when those were considered more "elite," let's say US Air for example.. I couldn't imagine that he'd be too happy right now.. or for the past 10 years. I jumpseated on a Us Air flight once.. the (very bitter captain) captain told me he was offered jobs with both Fedex and Us Air at the same time.. of course he took US Air, for all the reasons why pilots chose pax airlines jobs over cargo jobs in the 80s. Now, that is the biggest regret of his life. but how could he have known?