In the short story collection The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1785), the titular Baron Munchausen is depicted as a Chuck-Norrisian absolute unit.
A popular scene depicts ol’ Baron stuck in a swamp whilst atop his noble steed. He has no one to help him out of this pickle.
But he doesn’t need anyone’s help. Not with his ponytail and menacing machismo.
Boom. Lifted himself out.
This optical impossibility may have been the start of a misunderstood phrase. By the early 1900s, “pulling something up by the bootstraps” was meant to be sarcastic. Meaning the task could not be accomplished.
From the mid-1900s to today, the concept morphed into a phrase that exemplifies American exceptionalism:
Being entirely self-made with zero assistance whatsoever.
This begs the question: Are you self made? Can you be self-made?
I did not pick the place of my birth or the genetics that made me.
I did not choose my father’s profession or medical history.
I cannot dictate the rising of the sun or the phases of the moon that tugs at the tide.
But I can thank them for what I am.