Entitled
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having a right to certain benefits or privileges
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feeling that you have the right to do or have what you want without having to work for it or deserve it, just because of who you are
I had to look up the definitions, and there’s definitely a mixed energy.
“Just because of who you are” == could mean as simply as a Human. I am human, and humans have as an innate benefit certain things they “get” and can “have” without having to work for it or do something to deserve it.
Kings and Queens have asserted their privilege as “royalty” to their entitlements. And of course in hierarchies, entitlements are a big BIG deal.
What about in circles? In ecosystems? Am I entitled to healthcare because I am human? But what about the people who provide those services… am I entitled to even an hour of their life being spent tending to me just because I am human and they “chose” that career?
Am I entitled to someone to listen to me, show me compassion and understanding? What if I treat the person listening poorly, accusing them of not understanding my pain? What if they need to poop and I need to talk? Am I entitled to them being there for me? Even if they are my Mom?!??!
What I feel, at least this early morning, is that we are better served starting from a clean piece of paper. We’re entitled to nothing. There’s nothing inherently that is a right, benefit, or privilege.
EVERYTHING we have is worked for, by us or someone(s).
I am not entitled to eat. And… we live in a body that requires eating, and we live in cultures where that need is met by those who…
(a) Want to support their own needs by providing for the needs of others
(b) Feel that their lives and the world is made better when people have enough to eat without needing to starve or take food from others.
(c) Organized humans arise to meet the need to eat, and fund those needs where the systems use money to make it easier for people to get the food they need.
We NEED to eat (just like the leopard does). We’re not ENTITLED to eat. I appreciate that we’re in a world that however imperfectly and unevenly seeks to meet that need to eat and not just live in a dog-eat-dog world.
We’re not there yet, but I do want to see a world where wondrous, nutritious food is so readily available that deprivation becomes “not a thing.” Technology can help. Heartistry, too. Engineering. And yes, political change.
Entitlement though feels like the “wrong/off” perspective to build on. So, too, the “right” to something. Why? Because when you tell someone they have a “right” to something that requires the Life of others, there is a quality of taking and precedence over the freedom of others at work.
Food isn’t the only need we have, even though it is quite tangible and urgent for survival. We also need (many of us) Touch. Quality time with others. Healing. Fun! Safety. Resources.
That is why the Stewardship model, to me, is better than asserting “entitlements.” Within an ecosystem every single organism can make a contribution to the stewardship of today and the decades to come.