Culture of Entitlement

When I was talking to a group of people about work and some of the challenges I was facing, I had an avid Obama supporter/liberal say to me after everyone else left,"Hey! Why are you working if it's hard? Quit your job and stay home and have another baby if you want anyway, you could easily get on Medicaid, if you stop working you can qualify for free food, free housing and utilities, and free health care! That's why I quit my job, we get more stuff now if I don't work. And the more kids we have the more money we get! God tells us we should have kids and stay home with them, so that's what we're doing. I can afford to get my nails done and a massage every week now, I couldn't do that when I was working.....isn't that Awesome! Finally we're getting what we deserve." I thought to myself, yeah ya did. Well .......???......What?? ( I happen to know she uses family for all their worth too) I am shocked that this is the new norm.....Rely on family or the government to do everything for you? Selectively use God's counsel as justification for your despicable actions? ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? (Nevermind God said we should not be in debt, we should take care of ourselves and our families and it was a sin to be lazy and expect others to take care of you when you are able bodied)

Truth be told, I've been down that "needing-assistance-because-I-was-stupid" road and hated every minute of it. Making dumb decisions like being married at 19, having a baby at 19, I had to be on government assistance because neither one of us had a job that offered insurance for the first year two years of our marriage. I was ashamed that I had to be on this type of assistance. But my point is.....shouldn't EVERYONE on assistance of any kind feel a sense of SHAME? No they feel that others have an obligation to provide it to them. What is WRONG with this world? Where is the desire to be something better, to work towards taking care of yourself and your family on your own?

Being in debt or living with family is just as bad and it also has it's own list of problems. Now I have to say that my family is amazing, Kevin's family is amazing, and there was a time when I had no choice but to rely on their help. And though I will ALWAYS be forever grateful for their willingness to give us what we needed at the time. In all honesty the cost to us was too high, there is a constant deep down cut like a knife feeling of losing my pride and self esteem. There’s a feeling, no, an obligation, to live as they do and not as you want to, tiptoeing on eggshells, never being able to be who you are, or you appear ungrateful otherwise. There was always feeling of being unworthy of favors, you feel judged, and unworthy of happiness. That is no way to live.
The point is....When you pay your own way you have a sense of accomplishment, pride, and you have dignity. Without that the feeling SHOULD be that you have failed. But people justify anything these days..... they think they DESERVE things just because, I don't know, because they exist?

I refuse to join the new "society of entitlement". I don't care if others are relying on the government more and more to take care of them because they believe they "deserve" it. And if they think that's okay that's to their own personal downfall. I will work for what I have, I will EARN it. Insurance, income, housing, food, all of it. I refuse to rely on the good people of this great nation to help me do something selfish that I want to do just because I don't want to work for it. I believe in the “Give a man a fish he eats for a day, teach a man to fish he eats for a lifetime” thing.

This is a lesson I've learned the hard way, but at least I've learned it. At least I can say I'm growing. Uncertainty and fear shouldn't rule our lives, but reality should. We shouldn't ignore what is real, and we shouldn't hope for better without preparing for the worst. I don't want to be one of those lost unaware ignorant people who ignored the signs and hoped against hope that nothing bad would ever happen. I am a realist. I rely on myself and my husband. I do not rely on my God to solve my problems, I believe He can guide and direct, but He shouldn't have to save us when we've been warned and we refused to listen to His counsel, and the counsel of His wise church leaders and the inspired leaders of a movement towards personal responsibility and a movement away from, if we're realistic and honest, "Socialist" re-distribution of wealth, and entitlement.