Ya know what really bugs me? People who go through life feeling a sense of entitlement. I'd say I'm more spiritual than religious, and I'm certainly no bible scholar, but here's what I believe with all my heart: we are all equal in God's eyes. So when people go through life saying "I deserve a better house than this," or "I have to put up with a boring job, so I deserve to splurge on a nice vacation," or "My childhood sucked, so I deserve nice clothes, new furniture, and to always drive a brand new car," it kinda pisses me off. I just can't help thinking, well what about those homeless people under the bridges with their mental illnesses, or those orphans on the streets of Mombai, or that precious two-year-old with the brain tumor? Do they deserve their lot? What did you do to become so special?
I just can't believe that is how life works. In fact, I refuse to believe it! Bad stuff happens to good people all the time, and vice versa. We live in a random world, and as the saying goes, it matters not which cards life deals you. It's how you play the hand you are dealt. So, in my humble opinion, one major step towards good-lifeitude is to drop that sense of entitlement. It isn't about luck, it's about choices. Being an adult means you are finally free to make your own choices, which is a very good thing. But these choices all have consequences, both short term, and sometimes very far-reaching.
So, go ahead and buy that new car, or take those expensive vacations, or build the new house or whatever. That is nobody's business but yours. But don't belittle the friend who says "Sorry, I wish I could join you, but that's just not in our budget right now." Don't whine when your friend gets to retire early. Don't expect your friend to bail you out of a financial jam. Most importantly, don't go around saying "Poor me, I deserve better!" Be an adult and say "I did this because I wanted to. It was my choice, and I'm willing to accept the consequences, whatever they may be, and for as long as they shall rain down upon me... and my children... and my children's children, so help me God.
Because folks, making our own choices is the one and only thing we are entitled to in this life.
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2 comments:
I couldn't agree more. Choice and happiness are the key factors behind all decisions in our household. If there's something you want to do, choose to do it because it makes you happy. If it doesn't make you happy, choose to do something else. Never accept a situation with which you are not content.
Notice at no point does chance or luck ever enter into the equation. There are no victims of circumstance.
Hmmmm, maybe living amongst abject poverty in a third-world nation teaches even the first-world disciple to take off the rose-colored glasses and see that your personal well-being is defined not by things without, but rather from within.
Yep, that probably had a lot to do with it. Dear daughter and I were just ruminating the other day, on whether she might have ended up a completely different person, had we not moved to Indonesia.
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