I have a hard time understanding this entitlement mentality that appears to be so prevalent in todays world. Not being a scholar, thousands of dollars in debt for the education certifying how "smart" I am, I have to consider why this should be. I'm thinking it may just be the result of the example shown to those folks. I never heard my parents blaming anyone else for what they didn't have. That is a simple fact. Yes, I heard them both talk about the rich folks, how they had an edge, an advantage over them when it came to opportunities. Still, I never heard them blame those same rich people for that, it was just their simple good fortune. I never heard them insist the rich people should have to give them anything When they didn't have things, they worked to get them. The amount of work was proportional to the desire for that object. The proverbial, nose to the grindstone.
Now it could be said that my parents didn't keep their noses to the grindstone quite as much as some other folks and that would be a fair statement. They both enjoyed a bit of leisure time and relaxing just a bit. As a result neither of them suffered from stress related issues or harbored ill will toward others that had more than they did. They pretty much got whatever they needed and it's my feeling they were satisfied. I think that is the secret to life, being satisfied. It's always great when you have enough. It isn't that much greater when you have more than enough, know what I mean? Yes, security is a good thing, but not an essential element. I'm confident I will have enough to get by, even when that isn't as much as I currently have. That was a lesson I learned early on, getting by. What my parents called, making do.
Making do isn't all that difficult if you practice it. It does means denying yourself some of the luxuries in life. That may include not being the most popular of people and wearing out of style clothing. Could be refusing to simply go along with the crowd. Sometimes a slice of bread becomes a hot dog roll. I remember burning wood to create a bed of coals because we couldn't buy charcoal. We made do just fine with that. Didn't have a new car, made do with a used one.
Guess I never really wanted all that much, at least, not what stores had to offer. Don't have much of a choice when it came to electricity, fuel, housing and the like, so I worked for that. Then, I worked a little extra; to get the extras. It is no ones fault but my own if I don't get those extras. Truth is, it isn't anyone's fault if I don't get the essentials either. There is no one to blame for life.
It doesn't matter how much money other people have. That shouldn't be your concern at all. Counting the coins in your neighbors purse ain't putting any in yours! There are two ways other peoples' money wind up in your pocket. You are paid for a good or service you provided or they give it you out of charity. You aren't entitled to charity. Charity is a gift. You have to earn that entitlement and you ain't doing that making demands. Start telling me what I have to do and see how charitable I become. This idea that somehow the "wealthy" people should pay more simply because they have more is ridiculous. Should healthy people pay more because they don't use medical services as often?
Count the coins in your own purse and plan accordingly. That is the way I learned to "make do" in life. The lesson wasn't always easy to understand or adopt. I was reminded many times of an old adage, a fool and their money soon part company. I have learned the validity of that statement! Insisting that others finance my foolishness is just as foolish. Celebrities earn millions of dollars because of our willingness to pay them for whatever it is they do. Businessmen make millions by providing a good or service you are willing to pay for. The politicians craft legislation to ensure you have to pay for goods and services, those items they decide you can't just "make do" without. The reasoning being; prevent us all from fighting one another for those things. Then we wind up fighting each other over the money.
The most often misquoted verse in the bible says, "For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.". Most people leave out the first part of that and blame the money. The lesson is you have no one to blame but yourself. Coveting others peoples' money is a form of evil. Crafting legislation to take that money from others is also a type of evil. What is evil? "the act of intentionally causing harm or suffering to others, or the state of being morally wrong" That is how it is defined anyway.
If there are one hundred people and the bill is one dollar, each person is responsible for one cent. Anything else, any other way of dividing that bill involves charity. You can't legislate charity. As for me, it's my feeling life has been charitable. I am entitled to those things I have earned, nothing more. That charity began for me when, as a child I misbehaved. I didn't understand it then when Dad said, I'm doing this because I love you. I didn't understand that love is charity. Man, he and Mom sure loved me a lot! They were very charitable. I was entitled to that though, I earned it. It was an equal exchange. I had one sister and two brothers and we all paid the same.
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