Our younger generation (anybody born after about 1978) seem to have an innate sense of entitlement. They are
entitled to everything they want, and they want it
now. Understanding this attitude goes a long way toward explaining the extremely high
credit card debt in the U.S., and the significant
defaulting against student loans and mortgages. Here's what you
are entitled to:
- Everything you earn through personal labor or achievement.
- An opportunity to apply your talents and abilities. (You may have to create that opportunity yourself)
- Making those payments with which you voluntarily chose to encumber yourself.
- Unemployment compensation if you have not lost your job "for cause".
- Oddly enough, you are entitled to obligating yourself for the largest mortgage you could ever hope to afford ... only to discover down the road, that your hopes were well outside the realm of reality.
What are you
not entitled to? Anything not covered by the above five items. This means that:
- You are not entitled to welfare or Medicare, although it is provided to many - a few of whom may even be deserving of it. These are the two most abused public services our government provides. (They are almost as abused as are the salaries and perks our lawmakers have voted for ... for themselves.)
- You are not entitled to a credit card. Especially a credit card for which you have no idea of making the payments as required.
- You are not entitled to stand on the street corners begging for money that other people had to earn! (You could, however, do the rest of us a favor by placing yourself directly in front of rapidly moving traffic without warning.)
- You are not entitled to physically accost another human being, or use a weapon in order to relieve them of the burdensome contents of their wallet, purse, vehicle, or home. (Bear in mind that such actions could, at any point in time, prove to be a life-ending experience for you)
And for you young people who are not yet able to work - you are not entitled to a cell phone, a computer, or anything else that jeopardizes your parents budget. Don't embarrass them by asking - they have other things to do with their hard-earned cash. Things like
housing,
feeding and
clothing you and the rest of the family. Dad and/or Mom has to buy gas to get to work, and automobile insurance in case something untoward should happen during that daily drive. They pay for every drop of water you use and every electrical device you turn on (and leave on) unnecessarily.
Get a paper route, do yard work for neighbors, develop your entrepreneurial skills ... learn the meaning of the word
EARN, and then buy your own cell phone and
pay for the service. There's no such thing as a 'free lunch' in this life - unless, that is, you get elected to public office. Then those who
really work for a living are charged with supporting you.
