The world can be harsh and cold and becomes more so with each passing day. Everyone is looking out for themselves, which would be fine if they were not trampling over everyone else to get what they want.
We live in a world rife with expectations of entitlement. Everyone is entitled to a high paying job that makes them feel good. They are entitled to government benefits if they are sick or sad. They are entitled to good health care. They are entitled to have the police show up if someone has done them wrong. They are entitled to owning a home. They are entitled to being loved just for existing. I am not sure when all this entitlement began. I guess one could trace it back to the government programs after the Great Depression and around World War II. But back then, it seems, no one asked for anything they had not previously worked to earn. Now no one feels they have to DO anything to be entitled to everything.
The unfortunate reality is no one is entitled to anything and the sooner one realizes this, the more pragmatic a person can be about their decisions in life and the happier they will be. Everything is a risk. I can start a new job and work for a week and never get a paycheck. What would I do? I would stop working for that business. Next I could sue them and report them to the appropriate state agency. The appropriate state agency may do something to get me my pay but maybe they won’t. It depends on how much proof I have that I worked for the business and how well the business can deny it. As for a law suit, I have not been paid and law suits cost money so if I do not have any savings than I am SOL. I can sulk at how unfair life is or I can chalk this up to another lesson learned and find myself a new job. Someone can stab me to death as I walk down the street. Perhaps there are no witnesses. No one is punished. Perhaps there are witnesses but no one will talk. No one is punished. Maybe someone sees the act and does the right thing by testifying to what they saw. Then I am lucky that the killer is held accountable. I am not entitled to retribution and remember, in this scenario, I am still dead.
Some might say this is a dim view of the world but I’ve never viewed pragmatism as dim. A pragmatic view of the world keeps one sane and averts paralysis. I don’t live my life expecting someone to kill or cheat me but I keep my eyes open to the possibility and make deliberate choices to avert this. Since I don’t view my brother as my keeper, I do what is necessary to support myself and plan for catastrophic events (illness, natural disaster, loss of income, among other things). I don’t judge myself based on my neighbor’s behavior because I am not my neighbor. If he does not work, I am not going to refuse work until he “pulls his load.” I don’t say, “That’s not my job” when something needs to be done, I know how to do it and have the resources to do it.
I am aware I live among others and owe them a duty as I well as the one I owe myself. This is not Kansas and I’m not Dorothy. I might wince when the first work week of my month goes to taxes but I know I have to pay for the roads I drive on and my unfortunate neighbor. I shrug this off because it is the right thing to do. I am paying attention to where my dollars are going. I am voting my conscience. I am writing this post. I am hoping my thoughts make others think and do some of the same but I am pragmatic about that, too.
Another well written post. Recently I've been going off on a regular basis about lawsuits, and how they are one of the things bringing this country down. I see that a lot in the industry where I work, which is health care. People feel they are entitled to health care, but also want someone to blame when things don't work out as they believe they should have. Because of this, they are actually punishing those who are trying to be responsible by driving up costs.
ReplyDeleteToo many people expect the government to support them, and come to the rescue when things don't work out for them. Hurricane Katrina (even pre-levy breach) is a good example of what happens when people sit around expecting the government to take care of them. And who gets blamed there? Not the ones who spent their lives on a government "paycheck" and therefore didn't have the resources to evacuate, but FEMA.
I could go on and on!
Hmmmm... " no one is entitled to anything and the sooner one realizes this..."
ReplyDeleteAnd you refer to this as "conservative" and no doubt, in some way, American.
Yet... ummmm... let me see... oh yeah, it's right here in my copy of the Declaration of Independence.
"We hold these truths to be SELF-EVIDENT, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
rights, that AMONG these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness-That to SECURE these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men..."
Guess the old "founding fathers" would disagree with you there. So would all of the nations of the world when 60 years ago they all signed (including the U.S.) the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (http://www.everyhumanhasrights.org/).
Of course none of that is very "pragmatic" but then that's kinda the point of civilization now ain't it?
Thank you for visiting my blog, Mr. Butler.
ReplyDeleteI am trying to find where I refer to this particular post as “conservative” but have failed to do so thus far. No doubt this is my error and continuing to search for this does little to address the meat of your response to same post.
I don’t expect anyone to read what I have written and absorb it as anything other than one person’s opinion. As an individual I have my own perspective which may differ from yours. With that in mind, I shall continue.
You quote the United States Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal…” I hope you don’t mind if I start there. Surely they meant “white men” because they did not allow men of colour to be equal (vote) until the ratification of the 15th amendment in 1870. Even then I think coloured men where only allowed the power of 5/8 of a vote compared to the whole of a Caucasian vote. (If I’m wrong, sue me. I don’t have time, presently, to look this up.) When they said men, they obviously did not mean mankind because women did not get the vote until the 19th amendment was ratified in 1920. So, to continue, white males are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” I won’t argue you are not entitled to life as long as someone does not kill you (which was covered in the original post). Liberty sounds good also, as long as you are white and male. How much liberty do you suppose men of colour felt they had before (or, for a while, even after) the 13th Amendment? How much liberty did women feel they had before 1920? “And the Pursuit of Happiness.” I’ve no argument with anything you would like to pursue as long as it conforms to the basic “common law” that all democratic society is based upon. I encourage the pursuit of all things positive. (I am aware that is subjective also.) I will not meddle in anyone’s pursuit of happiness unless their happiness is based upon criminal misdoings.
I think our Founding Fathers were very wise & meant well. I think they painstakingly produced a document that still leaves me in awe by their intent. It also shows a great deal of idealism and optimism for how the human race would evolve. I don’t think they could have imagined what people today take for granted. Any people who wore wigs to cover the heads they shaved to avoid louse infestation are different than who we are now. I do not take for granted what they thought should be self evident, those things they wanted to create with this new country. Others do. That was the point of my post.
I totally get what you're talking about. Entitlement is one of the things about America that pisses me off on a regular basis. As a person who was recently laid off due to the economy, I spent 10% of my time feeling sorry for myself and 90% of my time working as hard as I could to find another job.
ReplyDeleteNot working, living on the government's dime was unacceptable in my mind (damn this "work ethic" my father gave me) so I picked myself up, dusted myself off and found another job, willing even to work at Target or Walgreen's while friends in a similar situation wait around for the "perfect job" that they think they're entitled to, then bitch that their unemployment is running out.
My father taught me that no one is entitled to anything they haven't worked for with their own two hands. Maybe we need more fathers like mine.
It appears that "Thom" is confusing entitlements and rights. A right is, as stated, endowed by the Creator. An entitlement is granted by law, whether from a legislature or a king. It is in this way similar to a privilege. Rights are either SECURED or INFRINGED by governments. Entitlements are CREATED and ENDOWED by governments and other authorities, but many times not on ALL [citizens].
ReplyDeleteA couplea points (besides the fact that I really like your Boston helmet, BTW) and then I'll have to go. No real time for snarking doncha know.
ReplyDeleteThe assumption of conservatism is based on your across the board presentation of, and apologetic for, your general perspective as "conservative." If I misinterpreted that I apologize. On the other hand perhaps you need to be a bit more clear as to your own "orientation."
Your point is of course well taken, and dually noted with regard to the definition of "Men."
It is a bit disingenuous however to suggest that those old boys were not open to reinterpretation of their intentions, and ol Jeff even wrote in other places about his struggle with the issue. The documents themselves were obviously created with the understanding that points of view would inevitably evolve. Hence the built in structures they placed in The Constitution for adaptation and growth.
It seems very clear that at least some of them had a much broader understanding of the term "Men" though political pragmatism no doubt won the day then, as it still does now.
As for the rights endowed by the "Creator" and enummerated by the "Men" of the 18th century... The document specifically states (awww, there is that Awe again) that "among these are..." They did not limit the rights to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, they simply pointed out that these three were the ones they were interested in at the moment, and that others were also endowed as RIGHTS to ALL.
As for Geekerella... your dad's perspective is fine as far as it goes, but unfortunately it's not a perspective that has stood the test of time, philosophically speaking, anywhere with the possible exception of Nazi Germany. Human history has established over and over again on the philosophical declaration of the rights of those who cannot fend for themselves, and the responsibility of the rest of us to help them.
As I mention in my earlier comment, this was most soundly, and universally asceded to by the entire world community in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (which even the U.S. signed) which establishes (in addition to Lif, Liberty, etc.) helath care, food, and employment as fundamental human RIGHTS.
That's why we call it "civilization" and not "barbarism."
Mr. Butler,
ReplyDeleteThank you again for giving me some food for thought and another perspective.
I’m confused about your second paragraph:
“The assumption of conservatism is based on your across the board presentation of, and apologetic for, your general perspective as ‘conservative.’”
I hope you’ll forgive my ignorance but a proper edumacation was not one of MY entitlements. Whatever you meant, I only represent me and I don’t apologize for me unless I do or say something particularly egregious (which I endeavor not to do). There are all different kinds of conservative view points just as there are all different kinds of liberal viewpoints.
I would never suggest our Founding Fathers did not leave behind a document open to wider interpretation and change though the generations. I’ve a sense nothing else I say regarding this matter will change your mind about what I allegedly believe so I’ll leave it at that.
I sense you believe I use the term right and entitlement interchangeably. Scott explained the difference much better than I ever will and JenJen gave a much better example than either of mine. She cited Katrina and while I certainly empathize (being from a town that gets eroded away every couple of hundred years)with the victims of that catastrophe, there are certain inherent risks one takes in building below sea level. People have a right to have a roof to live under but I resent having to pay for their entitlement to live where Mother Nature tells them they should not be.
You told Geekarella her father’s perspective is not a perspective that stands the test of time. It’s not? People like Geekarella and her father are the only reason our idealistic, failing welfare state hasn’t tanked so far. I’d hardly call her friends sapping the system, waiting for the perfect job a good example of people who “can’t fend for themselves.” You might not want Miss and Mr. Geekarella in your world but I am sure grateful to have them in mine. Too bad they are not going to be enough to save Social Security. It sure would be nice if I could stash that money away into savings now so I won’t have to eat dog food after paying for everyone else’s “disability.”
I am not going to dissect The Universal Declaration you cite except to say the word “adequate” in Article 25 disturbs me. My adequate is likely not the same as your adequate. We start heading down a slippery slope when we use such subjective language. I carry a health care proxy statement on me at all times to make sure that if anything serious happens to my health and I am unable to state my wishes regarding my care, no extreme measures will be taken to prolong my life. That is not because I don’t love life but because I do not wish to be a burden to other people and to the health care system. I consider this a responsibility I owe my fellow man. Is it really barbarism to realize not everyone can be saved all the time? Is it barbaric to want to live in a world where everyone plays from the same handbook? If I am willing to give up my life so as to not be a burden on society, is my life worth less for that action than someone else who makes no such previsions? I guess that really does prove what a barbarian I am.