Entitlement
What is entitlement?
Is it a large bank account,
expensive house,
or fast car?
Is it race, nationality, gender, religion, or ethnicity?
Is it a beautiful face, lean body, or hard muscles?
I don't know what it is, but I see it every day,
and, frankly,
I am sick of it.
Because of this catch word,
the lines of graciousness and acceptance of others
have been eradicated.
Every day, I experience and/or observe this phenomenon
and I shudder at the direction in which
this country,
this world,
is headed.
Everyone seems to think he or she is entitled
to whatever it is he or she wants,
the wishes of others or the needs of the masses
bedamned.
I am entitled to be rude and ugly,
to have what I want,
to my rightful place,
because
my ancestors were repressed
or because
I am a woman
or because
I am white
or because
My child is smarter
or because
I am beautiful
or because
I live in an expensive Malibu bungalow
or because
I am an Ivy Leaguer
or because
I am a man
or because
I drive a German sports car
or because
I am a victim
or because
I am on welfare
or because
my ancestors were wealthy
or because
I am black
or because
I am fat and lazy
or because
I am handicapped
or because
Of my ethnicity
or because
I know the President
or because...
The reasons are endless, superflous, and disingenuous.
Why the need for entitlement?
It has done nothing but
cultivate bitterness,
promote segregation,
emphasize separation,
cause misunderstanding,
foster mistrust,
and
endanger this country's,
this world's,
relationships.
Because of this attitude,
our country,
our world,
is more divided than ever.
Every day brings fresh news of conflict between people
who feel that they are more
entitled to what it is they want
than are the people who believe opposite,
who also believe THEY are more
entitled to what it is they want.
It is a vicious cycle and it is not new.
No, it has been around for millennia.
However, the relentlessness of
technological advancement,
the explosion in world population,
and the heightening educating of the world
have begun to narrow the distance
between neighbors and encroach upon
the privacy of the world,
serving to make this a more urgent problem
than ever before.
It can be found on small, insignificant scales,
such as a claim to a space in line
at a coffee shop,
or it can be found on larger scales,
such as a claim to a promotion
at work,
or it can be found on the grandest scales of all,
such as the claim to land or religious monument
at home.
Entitlement has always existed,
and especially on the grandest of scales;
it is the reason for war.
But it is when it starts to become an epidemic on the
smaller and less large scales
that the problem of entitlement
must be addressed
and the attitudes toward and surrounding it
must be altered and
compromises must be reached.
Perhaps this entitlement is part
of Nature's course
for the universe,
but I suspect not
because we as a species of humankind
have begun to believe more and more
that we are entitled to destroying
more and more parts of Nature,
literally and figuratively,
in an effort to further our own advancement,
which, of course,
is not an advancement at all.
In trying to impose our sense of entitlement upon Nature,
we run the risk of provoking Her wrath.
When we believe we are entitled
to know and understand
what it is that Nature
knows and understands,
so much so that we will attain this
knowledge and understanding
at any cost,
we jeoardize the future of Humankind's
relationship with Nature
and even, indeed,
the future of Humankind itself.
Santa Monica
01.02.01
Is it a large bank account,
expensive house,
or fast car?
Is it race, nationality, gender, religion, or ethnicity?
Is it a beautiful face, lean body, or hard muscles?
I don't know what it is, but I see it every day,
and, frankly,
I am sick of it.
Because of this catch word,
the lines of graciousness and acceptance of others
have been eradicated.
Every day, I experience and/or observe this phenomenon
and I shudder at the direction in which
this country,
this world,
is headed.
Everyone seems to think he or she is entitled
to whatever it is he or she wants,
the wishes of others or the needs of the masses
bedamned.
I am entitled to be rude and ugly,
to have what I want,
to my rightful place,
because
my ancestors were repressed
or because
I am a woman
or because
I am white
or because
My child is smarter
or because
I am beautiful
or because
I live in an expensive Malibu bungalow
or because
I am an Ivy Leaguer
or because
I am a man
or because
I drive a German sports car
or because
I am a victim
or because
I am on welfare
or because
my ancestors were wealthy
or because
I am black
or because
I am fat and lazy
or because
I am handicapped
or because
Of my ethnicity
or because
I know the President
or because...
The reasons are endless, superflous, and disingenuous.
Why the need for entitlement?
It has done nothing but
cultivate bitterness,
promote segregation,
emphasize separation,
cause misunderstanding,
foster mistrust,
and
endanger this country's,
this world's,
relationships.
Because of this attitude,
our country,
our world,
is more divided than ever.
Every day brings fresh news of conflict between people
who feel that they are more
entitled to what it is they want
than are the people who believe opposite,
who also believe THEY are more
entitled to what it is they want.
It is a vicious cycle and it is not new.
No, it has been around for millennia.
However, the relentlessness of
technological advancement,
the explosion in world population,
and the heightening educating of the world
have begun to narrow the distance
between neighbors and encroach upon
the privacy of the world,
serving to make this a more urgent problem
than ever before.
It can be found on small, insignificant scales,
such as a claim to a space in line
at a coffee shop,
or it can be found on larger scales,
such as a claim to a promotion
at work,
or it can be found on the grandest scales of all,
such as the claim to land or religious monument
at home.
Entitlement has always existed,
and especially on the grandest of scales;
it is the reason for war.
But it is when it starts to become an epidemic on the
smaller and less large scales
that the problem of entitlement
must be addressed
and the attitudes toward and surrounding it
must be altered and
compromises must be reached.
Perhaps this entitlement is part
of Nature's course
for the universe,
but I suspect not
because we as a species of humankind
have begun to believe more and more
that we are entitled to destroying
more and more parts of Nature,
literally and figuratively,
in an effort to further our own advancement,
which, of course,
is not an advancement at all.
In trying to impose our sense of entitlement upon Nature,
we run the risk of provoking Her wrath.
When we believe we are entitled
to know and understand
what it is that Nature
knows and understands,
so much so that we will attain this
knowledge and understanding
at any cost,
we jeoardize the future of Humankind's
relationship with Nature
and even, indeed,
the future of Humankind itself.
Santa Monica
01.02.01
posted by shaved wave at 2:19 AM
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