We live in a society of entitlement. No matter where we go, there is always something we "need," and most of the time, it is right at our fingertips. We go through life getting annoyed at the smallest things, but to us, these things can ruin our entire day. Have any of these thoughts ever crossed your mind?
"These people need to learn how to drive, at this point I'll never get there on time."
"It is your job to serve me as a waitress, so can you do that please?"
"My order wasn't that complicated, and yet they completely messed it up."
"If my boss gives me one more thing to do today, I'm going to lose it."
I'm sure most of us have experienced at least one, if not all, of these thoughts entering our mind and getting us into a bad mood. Why is that? Why does it always seem like things are just never enough?
Like I said, we live in a society of entitlement. If we ask for something, we expect to get it just the way we want.
"I need a grande, iced, sugar-free, vanilla latte with soy milk and if you put sugar in it, you better believe I'm sending it back." Some of you may think that's ridiculous, or some of you may have had almost the same issue last week. The point is, this type of mentality seems to creep itself into most aspects of our lives.
We have to have every single app on our phone to keep up with the newest thing, otherwise our phone is garbage. Our friends need to compromise in order to fit our needs, or else they aren't good friends. If our significant others don't listen to all of our demands, maybe they don't love us.
Maybe I'm exaggerating, but it seems to me that our society is getting uglier and uglier with this idea of entitlement. These past two summers I've really seen how this is such an issue in our society, after seeing a society that isn't this way. In the village of Limonal, Nicaragua, I was able to serve a community of people who live almost on top of a dumpsite. These people go out into the dump and collect things to be recycled and used for another purpose. That's their life.
It was life-changing to see how these people were grateful for any little thing you gave them. You would see kids running in the streets with just a ball and a stick, having an amazing time. The ministry I have had the opportunity to serve with has built many houses for families in this community. When I say a house, I mean a very small building with two rooms for a family that could have up to eight people. Yet, this act of kindness changes their lives forever, as they no longer have to cower under a shelter made of plastic tarps and pieces of scrap metal during the storms that can hit Nicaragua, hard. They express an immeasurable amount of gratitude for something that we take for granted every day.
Think about it. You may get frustrated at people while driving on your way to work, but what an amazing thing it would be if instead of letting this anger build up due to the frustrations of morning traffic, you chose to take that time to be thankful for what you have. You have a car that is getting you to work, a job that is providing income and you made it to work safe.
I'm not trying to guilt-trip anyone who reads this. Instead, I'm trying to shed light on a different perspective—a different way of processing things. We are so blessed to live in a society that allows us to have an education, to get a job, to work and earn an income, to have a family, etc. Unfortunately, entitlement has ruined our view on those blessings, and instead has turned them into expectations. We expect a decent education, we expect a job after college, we expect a nice house, we expect a loving family. By treating everything as an expectation instead of a blessing, we are lowering the value of these things in our lives. Ultimately, this perspective leads to much unhappiness, as can obviously be seen in our society today.
Shift your perspective. Having a thankful heart may cause you to have to examine yourself and remove any pride or entitlement that has been causing havoc inside of you, but trust me, it is worth it.
