As I watch my children grow, I know they have had a better life (as far has material gains are concerned) than I believe I had. By the same token I imagine that I had a better life than what my parents had (again this is where their beliefs come in); and so on and so forth.
Whether we take this 'evident' proposition backwards or forwards in our lives, we should come to a point where we discover that our fore-fathers had absolutely nothing to start off with or that our descendants will at one point have everything and more.
Question is, who is more entitled to the good life? Those who had nothing and had to struggle, or those who have been accustomed to having everything? Opinions may vary, but the correct answer should be 'both' (of course, if it is sustainable for both parties to have everything and more; it rarely is).
Then you have nature's greatest equaliser - what goes up must come down. A person's life is never up and up, but plagued with a few down cycles as well. There are generations that have their ups and downs, but stay level on average. And then there are generations that seemingly only have the ups with generations that follow with seemingly only downs.
However, the 'curse' of entitlement is 'raised expectations' when the next generation EXPECTS this generation to make sure that everything works out for them. My favourite example is the Calvin & Hobbes strip below (which I use (rather tongue and cheek) as an 'entitlement,' even though Bill Watterson slaved to draw it and should ideally be paid for it use here; see how contagious (and potentially litigation prone) entitlement can be?):
The entitlement blues hits most of us when we are down, because deep down we believe that we are good people and feel it absolutely unfair that bad things should happen to us.
Usually, when bad things happen to other people... it is easier to digest and relegate it to being part and parcel of life. This works two fold to our benefit because by lending a shoulder we look at ourselves as a better person (so it's easier to rationalise that bad things shouldn't really happen to us) and also simply because when we exit that door, we can leave all that hurt behind!
It is true that bad experiences only make us stronger, but given a choice how many would prefer to learn and only grow stronger by selfishly (albeit, never self-conscious of the fact) having to watch other people suffer those experiences on our behalf?
However, make no mistake, we'd rather have all the good fortunes happen to us. This might sound rather crude but how many of us have wished that we had the good fortunes of some of our neighbours because (dare I say it) we feel we deserve it more. I am definitely guilty of harbouring such sentiments from time to time, before I can catch myself. I chalk it down as human nature, but am not particularly proud of it (but then, neither should I be!). I also do NOT believe that I am alone in harbouring this sentiment either.
Good things come to those who wait. I have learnt that from experience. I have also learnt from experience that good things generally also happen to those who work towards it too. A Talatism truth, nay, a worldly truth, would be that we are only entitled to what we deserve but do not always deserve what we are entitled to.
As such deep revelations often do, it reminds me of a joke.
A man who had remained pious all his life and had nothing but utter devotion to his god, found himself on his prayer mat one night raising his hands in supplication asking that the lord grant him a worldly reward for his dedication.
“Oh Lord,” he cried, “let me win the lottery for all these years of complete servitude to your word.”
He prayed the same thing every night before he went to bed. Nothing happened, but a few weeks later his neighbour won the jackpot.
That night he lay again on his prayer mat in tears asking the good lord what he had done and why he was not allowed the prize for himself.
To his astonishment, as he raised his head, a cloud formed over him, it grew dark and a strong gust of wind shook the room he was in.
The clouds slowly parted, lightening flashed and a DEEP voice boomed down from the light above “Buy a Lottery ticket first!”
Sometimes it's only a matter of actually taking the steps towards receiving what we really feel entitled to.
Whether we take this 'evident' proposition backwards or forwards in our lives, we should come to a point where we discover that our fore-fathers had absolutely nothing to start off with or that our descendants will at one point have everything and more.
Question is, who is more entitled to the good life? Those who had nothing and had to struggle, or those who have been accustomed to having everything? Opinions may vary, but the correct answer should be 'both' (of course, if it is sustainable for both parties to have everything and more; it rarely is).
Then you have nature's greatest equaliser - what goes up must come down. A person's life is never up and up, but plagued with a few down cycles as well. There are generations that have their ups and downs, but stay level on average. And then there are generations that seemingly only have the ups with generations that follow with seemingly only downs.
However, the 'curse' of entitlement is 'raised expectations' when the next generation EXPECTS this generation to make sure that everything works out for them. My favourite example is the Calvin & Hobbes strip below (which I use (rather tongue and cheek) as an 'entitlement,' even though Bill Watterson slaved to draw it and should ideally be paid for it use here; see how contagious (and potentially litigation prone) entitlement can be?):
The entitlement blues hits most of us when we are down, because deep down we believe that we are good people and feel it absolutely unfair that bad things should happen to us.
Usually, when bad things happen to other people... it is easier to digest and relegate it to being part and parcel of life. This works two fold to our benefit because by lending a shoulder we look at ourselves as a better person (so it's easier to rationalise that bad things shouldn't really happen to us) and also simply because when we exit that door, we can leave all that hurt behind!
It is true that bad experiences only make us stronger, but given a choice how many would prefer to learn and only grow stronger by selfishly (albeit, never self-conscious of the fact) having to watch other people suffer those experiences on our behalf?
However, make no mistake, we'd rather have all the good fortunes happen to us. This might sound rather crude but how many of us have wished that we had the good fortunes of some of our neighbours because (dare I say it) we feel we deserve it more. I am definitely guilty of harbouring such sentiments from time to time, before I can catch myself. I chalk it down as human nature, but am not particularly proud of it (but then, neither should I be!). I also do NOT believe that I am alone in harbouring this sentiment either.
Good things come to those who wait. I have learnt that from experience. I have also learnt from experience that good things generally also happen to those who work towards it too. A Talatism truth, nay, a worldly truth, would be that we are only entitled to what we deserve but do not always deserve what we are entitled to.
As such deep revelations often do, it reminds me of a joke.
*
A man who had remained pious all his life and had nothing but utter devotion to his god, found himself on his prayer mat one night raising his hands in supplication asking that the lord grant him a worldly reward for his dedication.
“Oh Lord,” he cried, “let me win the lottery for all these years of complete servitude to your word.”
He prayed the same thing every night before he went to bed. Nothing happened, but a few weeks later his neighbour won the jackpot.
That night he lay again on his prayer mat in tears asking the good lord what he had done and why he was not allowed the prize for himself.
To his astonishment, as he raised his head, a cloud formed over him, it grew dark and a strong gust of wind shook the room he was in.
The clouds slowly parted, lightening flashed and a DEEP voice boomed down from the light above “Buy a Lottery ticket first!”
*
Sometimes it's only a matter of actually taking the steps towards receiving what we really feel entitled to.
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