End the Age of Entitlement

To me, entitlement means that people are getting something for free without having invested any time, energy, or money into it.

It is sad when people talk about my social security and retirement income as entitlements. I’m not being given something for nothing because I paid into the system on the promise that I will be taken care of in my old age. I put in over thirty years of teaching and invested into this system so when people talk about my social security and retirement as entitlements, it makes me mad!

Recently my husband and I were traveling and seeing so many people who act as if they are entitled to something. They think they have a good enough reason to get something for nothing because of some excuse. This excuse can be race or socioeconomic level or because they are a victim of violence, bullying, etc.  Those that are poor feel they are entitled to have what the rich have because the poor don’t have it. The rich feel that they are entitled to it because they are rich and they have it. Many races feel like they have been abused by society and are entitled to recompense because of the way they were/are treated. It saddens me because I think everyone at some point in their life or in their heritage has a reason they can use to say they are entitled to something.

I am not saying that people don’t deserve it for some reason or another but it is time to move on. We need to stop training our children and future generations to constantly believe that they are entitled to something for nothing. We can’t keep using our savings for the future to pay for wrongs of the past. There has to come a point in time where we say enough is enough.

It is time to get past this attitude.

I believe that is why many young people don’t have a work ethic. They don’t believe that they should have to work hard to get something. I grew up with an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay. It didn’t matter whether I was entitled to something or not and I had to earn it. If I didn’t earn it, I didn’t deserve it. No one asked me if I was entitled to it or not.

Some don’t have any respect for differences because they feel that they are entitled to be above others who may be different. They may be different because they have different ideas, values, looks, or beliefs.

Maybe I’m feeling cynical or disconnected or whatever you want to call it. But I feel that unless we, as a society, change our attitude and start teaching our children a different way of life, the world as I know it is only going to get scarier.

Maybe if we start by teaching our own children or grandchildren or relatives, this little change may have a ripple affect and eventually change others.  I hope people will start giving it a try.

What do you think about entitlements? How do we change the way people think? Please share.