ghet•to:
a part of a city where members of a particular group or race live usually in poor conditions
This “part of a city” is typically looked down upon... even by some of it's own residents. What was once a forced and lawful segregation, for many, has now become a segregation within the mind. Though there are very real obstacles, limits can sometimes be imagined, then eventually realized. Mental walls are built, then maintained. Chains are fastened, then locked. This extends far beyond the physical borders of the ghetto. It's in the suburbs, locked between a young girls' ears who's been told she's not beautiful for as long as she can remember. Or a star athlete who's convinced that he can only be great at his sport and therefore doesn't apply the same tenacity to his academics. This thinking has no regard for age, it's age-less... it's class-less, it's race-less, and it can render you powerless.
There is a limit to the amount of negativity one can hear until they start believing it. >> Belief is nothing else but a thought repeated over an extended period of time.