You're actually not entitled to anything

So many people out there feel themselves entitled to something.  It's not just the one percent feeling they're entitled to more than their fair share.  Whether it's minorities who feel entitled to a pedestal because of slavery or the working class who feel entitled to higher wages to escape poverty, EVERYONE feels entitled to SOMETHING.  I myself feel that if I'm forced to give my wages to Social Security and welfare services,  I should be entitled to use them when I need to.

But I can't.   I'm very poor, true, but I'm an able bodied single woman  with no dependents so even if I do have to live on Ramen noodles, I don't qualify for assistance.  The painful truth no one wants to admit is, NO ONE is entitled to ANYTHING.

We like to think we are.  We constantly bemoan our situation.  We say we're entitled to freedom, to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  We deserve to make enough money, to live in a safe environment, to have goods and services.  We deserve the right to free speech and to have a democratically elected government.  We deserve good roads to drive on and enough food to eat, electricity and running water and libraries and even PBS.

But we're not.  Truth is, the things we want out of life, the things we think we deserve, they don't just magically appear.  SOMEONE at some point had to WORK to make those things happen.  SOMEONE built and maintains our roads and public services.  SOMEONE fought a war for our freedom.  SOMEONE created our government from scratch and SOMEONE created Social Security and welfare programs to help the poor.  SOMEONE is working right now to keep our neighborhoods safe.  EVERYTHING we have today is because someone WORKED to make it happen.

If you want a better life, you can't sit on your ass waiting for one to come along.  You have to make it happen.  Yes, you will struggle.  Yes, you may not get as far as you want to.  Yet if you don't do ANYTHING, then you don't get ANYTHING.

And if we WANT to keep having the things we think we deserve, then SOMEONE will have to WORK to keep them.  Guess what.  That someone is you and me.