Sunday, November 15, 2009

Entitlement

People whine about 'entitlement'. "Why do some people expect everything for nothing?" But what is at the heart of entitlement? What lies at the very depth of the concept?



Greed. Pure and crass greed.

The satisfaction and contentment of what you have in your grasp now is not enough. You want more. You want it easily. You deserve it. You need more. More, more, more, more. It is just never enough.

We're all greedy. Yes, it's true. In our hearts, we always want more. It's what drives the very nature of our society. Everyone labors for the almighty raise. Children fly to college, not because of any desire to learn but in the hope of landing a job which earn lots of cash. Naturally, colleges fleece them the entire way. Attempts to satisfy greed have led to the formation of Unions to force the Big Men in companies to deny their greed and share with those they stepped on while they climbed to the top.

Each and every single one of us wants everything. We all have entitlement attitudes. The only question is whether or not you suppress it.

Oh? Is that the sound of a million people screaming, "Never me! You have no idea what you're talking about, Anna!"

Reflect upon yourself, and in your heart of hearts, in the very dark and rank corners of your tainted souls, look deep and tell me that never once in your life you thought that you were entitled to something which you do not or did not deserve.

There is not a day which goes by where in my mind a little voice tells me that I deserve the world, and the world owes me everything. I should have the same care from the Lindens which they give to Premium customers. You should put those L$5,000 shoes down to L$1 so I can buy them. I deserve free land, why should you get land just because you volunteer payment info and sink money into Linden Lab and their servers? I should be able to go where ever I please and do whatever I want. And if I don't get what I deserve, then I'll pitch fits. Screw you all.

In real life, I deserve free education. Why do I need to pay $30 a month to subscribe to a scientific journal? Shouldn't information be free? I feel that I shouldn't have to pay in order to have internet cable. I wrote a book. Why isn't it published? I WANT it to be published, and never mind that the editor is horrified by my tenuous grasp of the English language and my pathetic by-the-numbers cliche plot all due to the fact that I spent as little time and care as possible crafting it. It's not fair and I deserve it all.

And yet I don't. Every day I tell that little voice in my head to go away. I use my reason to force it into logical submission.

Why can't everyone else? Why do some people not stop for a few moments, and realize the greed which has overtaken them and blinded them to the simple fact that they live a life of privilege that any person of lesser means would sacrifice vital organs for.

I sit on free Linden Lab land by the sea and am pleased by the courtesy and generosity of Linden Lab to allow free accounts like me into their world without paying a single cent out of pocket. And allowing me to build and create with no taxes (aside from texture upload fees). And earn L$. And go anyway, talk with anyone, and in general allow me to continue my existence. When I run out of cash, I sigh a little, but I don't demand free money from Linden Lab or any residents on the grid.

I write this blog, free of charge thanks to Google and Blogger. I can write as much as I want, for as long as I want. If Blogger ate all my previous posts and sent them to internet Hell, I would be lying to say I wouldn't feel as if they OWED it to me to retrieve those posts. They've wasted time and money allowing me to continue typing for a complete loss. In fact, if I set up with Google ads, I could even rake in a few bucks from here. A privilege which I have not yet taken advantage of.

I can afford to attend college and learn and train. My family could have supported me if I went to certain schools whose tuition prohibit others of lesser means from even thinking of applying. And yet when I applied I was turned down due to academic shortcomings. And at the time, I was a little angry and I felt like I should have been accepted, that I deserved it. I was ranked high in my high school class and they were wrong and they owed it to me. But just the possibility that I could have, is a chance many others will never ever have. And I'm content with that.

I thank Nunchuck every day for the world coalescing into what I have been born into. And while I feel that I deserve more, I do not give in.

When certain people push their 'entitlement' attitudes, I don't hold them in disdain or mock them, for every day I struggle with the same feelings. No, instead I feel sadness for those people. I feel sad that of all that they have, they will likely never notice have much they actually have.

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