I'm a cypher, wrapped in an enigma, smothered in secret sauce. Also, my name is Kev and I own this here website.
Earlier this week, a friend e-mailed me an audio clip of a voice mail left at a bank in Lubbock, Texas, by a woman who had been notified her car was about to be repossessed. The woman, as you would imagine, was agitated. She angrily reprimanded the bank for not understanding she wasn’t rich. That is — she wasn’t rich yet. She ended the voice mail by proclaiming this year she WOULD be rich because Barack Obama was now president.
Putting aside the sad fact that it would appear a segment of society presumably voted for Obama under the belief he was going to give them the keys to Fort Knox, this woman is a prime example of the entitlement issues plaguing the world today. This is the year she finally gets to be rich.
I first became aware of this wave of entitlement when I became a teacher a few years ago. Students who did not pay attention in class, misbehaved and didn’t study felt they deserved passing grades. Their parents felt they deserved passing grades, too. More than one parent-teacher meeting was spent discussing what the teacher was going to do to help little Johnny pass instead of what Johnny needed to do. I refused to play this entitlement game, stated so, and soon retired from teaching.
These days it’s impossible to throw a rock out a window and not hit an individual who believes he’s entitled to anything and everything (including everything you own since you just “assaulted” him with a rock). A finance article, of all things, expressed my thoughts perfectly:
(The) relationship between optimism and hard work has been lost in some quarters, thanks in part to the self-esteem movement, which gave everyone a trophy regardless of his or her effort.
The recent season premiere of ‘American Idol’ provided an example. One of the men who auditioned, Randy Madden, dresses like Axl Rose but works as a salesman in a cubicle (calling himself “a rocker in a box”). When he met the judges, he admitted to having no musical training and never playing in a band, and then proceeded to butcher my favorite Guitar Hero song, Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer”. He teared up for the camera, proclaiming, “I just want someone to tell me I’m great.”
Here was a man utterly unprepared to get the thing he wanted — so he simply decided he was entitled to it, demanded it, and set himself up for a rather spectacular fall. He is not unlike those who took out mortgages they couldn’t afford, cashed out and squandered their equity, piled on credit card debt and home equity loans, then teared up, proclaiming, “I just want someone to tell me I’m rich.”
None of us are entitled to anything unless it’s specifically stated in the Bible or U.S. Constitution. And neither the Bible nor Constitution state we are entitled to be rich. Neither states we deserve a trophy just for playing the game. You want to be rich? Work for it. You want a trophy? Practice, get better and earn a trophy.
You want your car not to be repossessed by the bank? Get off your butt and stop expecting riches to fall from the sky and into your lap.
Of course, if Obama really does end up handing these people buckets of cash, boy is my face going to be red.
And with that, I’ve met my quota for “serious” posts in 2009.
My quota? One.
;-) 1.29.09 at 12:10 pm:
BRAVO.
People have completely lost touch with what the “American Dream” really means. It doesn’t mean having everything handed to you on a silver platter. It doesn’t mean attempting to garner sympathy with sob stories. It doesn’t mean blaming other people for the fact that you haven’t been able to get ahead in life (but notice the people who tend to do that are the very people you’re talking about in this post – the ones who don’t want to work for a dime).
It means having the opportunity to put forth some hard work and, someday, be rewarded for the work you’ve done. The people in 3rd world countries should be so lucky.
That finance article hits the mark. The “self-esteem” movement has done severe damage, probably irreparably. Whatever happened to feeling good about yourself and gaining self-esteem through the knowledge that you’ve worked hard and actually earned what you have? That feeling of self-esteem, at least in my opinion, FAR surpasses the attitude of “Awww you didn’t get an A on your paper? That’s okay. I’m SURE you did your best, that mean old teacher just doesn’t know what you’re capable of.”
It’s sad.
But great post. *claps*
;-) 1.29.09 at 12:45 pm:
Does this mean I’m NOT entitled to just one teensy-weensy* date with Johnny Depp, just because I think he’s hot?
Additional discrete but uber-significant thoughts:
Barack Obama DID hand his slobbering sycophants the keys to Fort Knox. Only, just like Obama’s suits, Fort Knox has held nothing but air for years. HA HA! Let’s wait for that to dawn on all of them.
To honor all men is to honor none.
I taught eleventh-grade English for one year after I was married, before we started our family. This was 30 years ago. The kids and their parents were the same back then (and this was a Christian school): their kids deserved an A — or at least a passing grade — JUST FOR SHOWING UP. Their attitude and productivity was not supposed to enter into the equation. All anti-heaven broke loose if you tried to suggest they were not entitled to a respectable grade just because they walked into class each day. One year was more than enough to convince me I’d never make an understanding teacher to coddled brats in advanced stages of entitlement syndrome.
And one question:
Does this mean I have to do ALL the serious posting in 2009? Sheesh.
*On his private island — and I mean REALLY private, meaning no one is there except him and me — for, oh, approximately one hundred years.
;-) 1.29.09 at 5:49 pm:
I think my readers get tired of serious posts (at least political ones). So i decided to lay off. I haven’t posted in almost a week!
;-) 1.30.09 at 8:01 pm:
It does surprise me when people think that they are entitled to ANYTHING that they don’t work for. Life, and all it’s trappings, cost money. Get a job, don’t live beyond your means and don’t expect anyone to bail you out of situations that you create. Ulness you’re a fortune 500 company, then the government will help you out.
The End.
lol
;-) 2.1.09 at 9:35 pm:
MMm hmmm, great post. I have GOT to hear that voicemail.
;-) 2.2.09 at 4:11 pm:
This is very true–far, far too many people feel entitled to wealth and comfort when all we can really hope for (not expect) is to make a living. We talk about this at work and how difficult can be determining the difference between people who are hoping for a hand up and those who are looking for a handout. Pulling oneself up by the bootstraps is distinctly American and also un-Biblical. However, there are always people who take advantage of people’s generosity which is equally un-Biblical. Also, I’m a communist. Just kidding. I’m not in the mood to elaborate, though. Note: Generosity meaning the church being responsible for the poor, not the government. If the church would actually DO it.
;-) 2.10.09 at 5:43 pm:
Reality TV would die without fools full of entitlement.