Entitlement

I've seen entitlement from two extreme perspectives.

At one of my last schools in the US, all of the students received free breakfast and lunch, and all of their families were on aid.  We had several generations who continued to live in the neighborhood and they had attended the school too, which illustrated their status through the years had pretty much stayed the same.

We were fortunate in that the school was supported by many organizations, which included a wonderful church that provided backpacks of food on the weekends, and so many other things.  They even opened a clothes closet in an empty classroom so the staff could go in and get clothes for needy kids.

What was amazing to me though, was that no matter how much was provided, too often too many of the families were looking for more.

More handouts.

From the government.

From the church.

From the school.

From anyone willing to give.

You rarely got the sense that the things being done were appreciated.  What was clear was that most expected to be taken care of.

Don't get me wrong, I'm thankful for the support that we have in place to help folks when they need it.  It has helped me, and many others along the way.  What I don't appreciate are the folks who sit back and wait for things to be handed to them as though the world owes them something.

Since I've been here, I've seen entitlement on the other end of the spectrum.

Many of the very wealthy folks also expect to be taken care of.

I'm sure this is common with folks of great wealth, but it is my first experience of seeing it first hand.

It's wonderful to see the systems that are in place to take care of the nationals.  It really is remarkable that the leaders made the decision to share the wealth.  This one decision alone is the reason there will never be an uprising in this country.

What's very sad though, is that there will always be people who take advantage of the system or are ungrateful for support that they receive, and this can happen at any level in the socio-economic ladder.