The Truth About Entitlement

Entitlement is a big issue happening with our younger generation (or today's generation in general). They're loaded with all the gadgets, cars, and quality lifestyle they can ever think of (that's what I see here in Central Texas). When I was a teen, most of the kids I knew had to work for what they wanted; very few were "privileged." Most of the kids I knew who worked were hustlers, saving their money, and in some cases, had to help their parents out with the bills. I on the other hand was a spoiled rotten kid that had to join the Army to break my thoughts of being "entitled." I would have a job and screw it off. I didn't save a dime. Hell, I didn't have any aspirations in life. My dad would get on me but I always bucked against him. Almost 20 years later, my thoughts and feelings of entitlement are mostly gone (my wife spoils me sometimes...☺️). But now, as I go to local malls, I see kids these days from toddlers, to preteens, teenagers, and young adults, throwing tantrums, hissy fits, and disrespectful gestures when they can't get what they want. This generation, some call it Generation Y, feel they are entitled when the new iPhone or smartphone comes out. They're entitled to shopping sprees every time their parents get paid. They feel entitled to hang out all night and do whatever because they're "passing school." Some of them believe their parents are supposed to give them what they want when they're doing good at school. However, many of these kids in my area don't know the value of hard work and dedication (most of the kids are military kids....). There are some going above and beyond right now to make their mark and to set for themselves pathways of success. They understand that entitlement cannot come without the blood, sweat, and tears of hard work. To be entitled, you have to earn it. The same goes for a lot of us adults, too, thinking that prayer, knowing somebody who knows somebody, and "getting by" will grant us entitlements of success. That's bull---- and we're carrying that some bull---- into the lives of the next generation. We have to work for what we want. Can veterans use their GI Bill without serving a certain period of honorable service in the military? Can a person attain a college degree without completing a certain amount of hours? Can a person become a successful manger at a job without developing the necessary leadership qualities? Can a person get a weekly paycheck without coming to work? You should know the answer. I'm trying to bury that little teenaged spoiled boy everyday to becoming a hard working man for the sake of my family. Putting money away that I can't touch. Developing other skills outside of my first line of income. Hell, getting an increase for my VA compensation benefits. All of this requires work. I'm not "there" yet but I'm working with the cards I've been dealt rather than waiting for a miracle to fall from heaven to make life easier for me. Each time we run into these young whipper snappers, we need to drop some gems on them about how entitlement really works. It requires work. Hard work and dedication.

Til next time, Mr. "Still on Leave Until Next Tuesday Overton....

The Diligent Vs The Sluggard

For anyone who's talked with the old schools about life, one of the main things they'll tell us is the importance of hard work. As one historic hip-hop quotable from the mid-90's said, "...everything you get you got to work hard for it..." I have to say that's true. We have to put in work, time, and effort to obtain success in life. No matter what type of employment we found ourselves in from handling pro- bono cases in the courtroom to being a single parent raising kids, it takes hard work and dedication. Budgeting our money, managing our time, studying to become the best at our alter maters takes work. It takes diligence and only the diligent are going to see results. Being a diligent individual causes us to be single minded, focused, and loosing ourselves from the distraction this world will throw at us. Diligence does come with a price as we have to let of pleasures, habits, and viewpoints that will keep us in the cycle of failure and nothingness. It's sort of like a professional athlete, he or she has to work out everyday, master their skills, and humble themselves to help the rest of the team obtain a world championship. A diligent man or woman is somebody a boss, an executive, their siblings, their pastor, their enemies can depend on to do the right thing. They don't just start something, they finish it all the way through. They're not half steppers and many people won't like them because it seems they do things for recognition. But that's beside the point. They are an example of diligence, hard work, and excellence. To be the best, we have to be diligent. But many of us are being or becoming sluggards, lazy, prideful, inconsistent, troublesome, complacent. Our boss wants to see us go to the next level and gives us tasks to complete. However, we fail the test time after time giving them our excuse to why things are completed. We share our dreams and hopes for the future to do this, to go to this place, and make a certain amount. However, we're seen wasting our time, spending rather than saving, and can't even come on time to work. We wonder why things in our lives aren't going the way we planned them. Instead taking on the diligent mind, who knows it's going to suffer a lot for the glory, the sluggard takes "the easy way out" and only find themselves in greater turmoils later. My question to us today is this, if God isn't a sluggard (slacker), why are we? What if He slacked off when He created the universe, perfectly placing every atom and molecular structure in our cosmos? Things would be a bit chaotic, right? What if He slept in and didn't hear none of our cries of distress, we would never receive much needed blessings to carry us on, would we? What if He knowing the pain He would endure through the death of cross, just stayed on His throne and let us die in our sins and experience eternal torture? If He's diligence, so should we be diligent. If we want to see our kids become upstanding citizens, we've got to be diligent in raising them. If we want to have investments for the future, we've got to save aggressively (help me Lord). I won't lie to you all, these past couple of months, I haven't been that diligent. But through a lot of introspection and conviction, I'm working to be a diligent man. Not only for myself but for my family, friends, and people I know I will have to help along the way. It's time we become diligent and set a great and honorable legacy of diligence for others to follow (remixed from Muze One from Redeemed Thought, '06). Man, I can take this a bit further but let me leave you with some words from my good friend Jedidiah (research it...)

Proverbs 10:4: (this is a one size fits all, try it out, you'll see)

"He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand:but the hand of the diligent maketh rich."


Reference:

Proverbs 6:6-11