Entitlement.
Getting what we deserve, at best, means getting nothing at all. This, no matter the contribution. A hard truth to face yet one we must humbly accept. Either we admit we were short-changed, or we admit that we were entitled to nothing, which ever is easier for you to swallow and digest is yours for the choosing.
Why would I make a claim like this? Why would we not be entitled to at least some things in life? After all, are we not, "good people" who deserve to be treated as such? Are we all the buttholes we see on TV and want nothing to do with?
I believe now, as a father, that I did pretty well as a child and that I am entitled to more than my siblings. This a joke for reference (I wasn't that good). My brothers would argue that I received my entitlement, with interest. This expectation did not stop in the home, but transferred to how the world needed to value my existence. After all, did I not meet expectations? Am I not entitled to a favor by the police for all the good I have done in the community where I am entitled to forgiveness of a speeding ticket? Would the judge look at this face before locking me up and give his "pass" because, well, I tried?
What I am expecting is the very foundations on which the rules of society lie, to be undone. I am asking to have the availability to what I feel I am entitled to, despite the consequences of an action. I am in a sense, owed it. Like a retired general entitled to a healthy pension. Like a combat veteran is entitled to his service connected disability. Like a mom deserves to be pampered on Mother's Day, entitlements come from a bank of stored investments that increase expectations for what we deserve.
I am not entitled to military benefits because I did not sacrifice much, other than convenience. There are many, my brother included, whom sacrificed. They left the country, put themselves in harm's way, and when they got back were met with a world too whinny to appreciate their sacrifice (my opinion). Instead, we would rather talk about a Tweet the President sent out or some politician sexually harassing another. We scrape on by, looking for the next thing, versus the positive which has already been done. Yet, somehow, media points-of-interest are entitled to more because...? Sorry, I am drawing a blank on this one, but then again, I am not a political person, nor do I claim to understand politics.
People who feel entitled to something without sacrifice are requesting that the bonds of the human condition be broken, just this one time, and just for them. Society is held together by commonalities, common principals that we all agree on to some extent. When those are threatened, then what do we have left but a sort of anarchy?
Extreme?
Well, I say that every bomb has a detonator, every explosion has the initial spark. Destruction doesn't just happen, but is a progression of individual acts. First the fuse is lit, the spark going inside a container which then needs more oxygen than what is available and "boom!"
Entitlement is a respect for a sacrifice, an availability, and it has its place. Some gave more than they received and availability needs presented in these cases. The problem lies in asking for more than is warranted, for "deserved," too easily misconstrued. The expectation of a "reward," or a "pass," such as in my early example of a "great" self.
The problem isn't asking for help, but the expectation that you, "deserve" it. Things like "being a good person," or simply maintaining a heartbeat, are not adequate reasons to receive an entitlement. What makes us think this is even a possibility? What has happened to altruism? What happened to the "Greater good?" Have we thrown away the very thing that has made us "One Nation Under God?" If so, then again I say, how long before the explosion occurs, before the lit fuse of extreme change blows up in our face? What happens when those that earned their entitlement are refused because those that felt entitled took it all? A see-saw has to come back down at some point, and even the best relationships have their arguments. When is the expectation for things we never earned going to be addressed?
This is not intend for one people or people's but rather, is intended for all of us. To reestablish a culture where we promote not things, but acts. Where doing is better than having. Where we contribute, not for fear of losing or being taken advantage of, but because it was the thing to do.
In the fictional book World War Z by author Max Brooks, the thing that struck me the most about the stories were the survivors. This, much like any anarchy movie, depicts people turning violent and selfish in the wake of dwindling resources. A primal expert may argue for survival, though a spiritual person way instead feel a sympathy that we are all so egocentric that we fail to see what banding and sharing can do versus hoarding and isolating.
Not all is "bad" but what appears to be promoted isn't all that good either.
For a little of my own capitalism I too wrote a book. It has nothing to do with this post except for the selfish part, I have done a lot of that. Any way, check it out. Click Here.
Why would I make a claim like this? Why would we not be entitled to at least some things in life? After all, are we not, "good people" who deserve to be treated as such? Are we all the buttholes we see on TV and want nothing to do with?
en·ti·tle·ment
inˈtīdlmənt,enˈtīdlmənt/
noun
- the fact of having a right to something.
What I am expecting is the very foundations on which the rules of society lie, to be undone. I am asking to have the availability to what I feel I am entitled to, despite the consequences of an action. I am in a sense, owed it. Like a retired general entitled to a healthy pension. Like a combat veteran is entitled to his service connected disability. Like a mom deserves to be pampered on Mother's Day, entitlements come from a bank of stored investments that increase expectations for what we deserve.
I am not entitled to military benefits because I did not sacrifice much, other than convenience. There are many, my brother included, whom sacrificed. They left the country, put themselves in harm's way, and when they got back were met with a world too whinny to appreciate their sacrifice (my opinion). Instead, we would rather talk about a Tweet the President sent out or some politician sexually harassing another. We scrape on by, looking for the next thing, versus the positive which has already been done. Yet, somehow, media points-of-interest are entitled to more because...? Sorry, I am drawing a blank on this one, but then again, I am not a political person, nor do I claim to understand politics.
People who feel entitled to something without sacrifice are requesting that the bonds of the human condition be broken, just this one time, and just for them. Society is held together by commonalities, common principals that we all agree on to some extent. When those are threatened, then what do we have left but a sort of anarchy?
Extreme?
Well, I say that every bomb has a detonator, every explosion has the initial spark. Destruction doesn't just happen, but is a progression of individual acts. First the fuse is lit, the spark going inside a container which then needs more oxygen than what is available and "boom!"
Entitlement is a respect for a sacrifice, an availability, and it has its place. Some gave more than they received and availability needs presented in these cases. The problem lies in asking for more than is warranted, for "deserved," too easily misconstrued. The expectation of a "reward," or a "pass," such as in my early example of a "great" self.
The problem isn't asking for help, but the expectation that you, "deserve" it. Things like "being a good person," or simply maintaining a heartbeat, are not adequate reasons to receive an entitlement. What makes us think this is even a possibility? What has happened to altruism? What happened to the "Greater good?" Have we thrown away the very thing that has made us "One Nation Under God?" If so, then again I say, how long before the explosion occurs, before the lit fuse of extreme change blows up in our face? What happens when those that earned their entitlement are refused because those that felt entitled took it all? A see-saw has to come back down at some point, and even the best relationships have their arguments. When is the expectation for things we never earned going to be addressed?
This is not intend for one people or people's but rather, is intended for all of us. To reestablish a culture where we promote not things, but acts. Where doing is better than having. Where we contribute, not for fear of losing or being taken advantage of, but because it was the thing to do.
In the fictional book World War Z by author Max Brooks, the thing that struck me the most about the stories were the survivors. This, much like any anarchy movie, depicts people turning violent and selfish in the wake of dwindling resources. A primal expert may argue for survival, though a spiritual person way instead feel a sympathy that we are all so egocentric that we fail to see what banding and sharing can do versus hoarding and isolating.
Not all is "bad" but what appears to be promoted isn't all that good either.
For a little of my own capitalism I too wrote a book. It has nothing to do with this post except for the selfish part, I have done a lot of that. Any way, check it out. Click Here.
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