This is such a blanket statement that doesn't always work. Ask a doctor why they spent years making nothing. Different circumstances. When I started chasing this career is was prior 9/11 where the game was different. Sure crappy wages still existed at the regionals but the industry was booming like never before and pilots were making good wages with nice work rules at that point in time. I took a job knowing I was going to make so little because in the environment at the time it was part of "joining the club" to become an airline pilot where after those first few years things would be completely different. Since then I've see terrorist attacks that grounded aircraft and led to furloughs followed by a recession that's doing the same thing again where people are still living on cut wages and benefits with no clear future in sight. Things have changed drastically since most of us started.