Gratitude - The Cure For Entitlement

I was listening to a podcast sometime ago and the host was just talking about how one time, he asked a taxi driver what the most difficult part of his job was. The taxi driver replied; ‘Many people out here, driving on the road are so entitled. Everyone has got somewhere to go, and if you’re in their way, you’re holding them back from where they need to go. You’re simply an obstacle because; they deserve and are entitled to get where they need to go. They do not even take into consideration that you are on the road, that we all have somewhere we need to go, that we all have somewhere we need to be at a certain time. They just believe they have a right for you to get out of their way’. 

Quite frankly, that’s how a lot of us are sometimes. We are such an entitled bunch and it is a major humanity problem.

Entitlement is when we mistakenly perceive a legitimate need or legitimate desire that we have, as a right or as something that we deserve; when we get the impression that we deserve more than we really deserve. There are many needs and desires we have that we don’t deserve. While some people approach life with this universal entitlement (that everything is owed to them), a lot more people approach the universe with the understanding that a lot of people do not owe them a lot of things. It is one thing for someone to have a sense of responsibility towards your needs or desires, it’s another thing for them to owe it to you. For instance, as children grow up, they would need and desire a lot of things and their parents would provide it and give them as free gifts because they are responsible for them and because they love them not because the child has done anything to deserve it.

Don’t get it wrong, of course, there are some things we have a right to but, they are not a lot. There are earned rights, for instance, an employee-employer relationship. Your employer owes you your paycheck for the job you have done, you have certain fundamental human rights that you are owed by your government and so on.

The thing is this -  when you start seeing certain things as your right, you automatically stop seeing it as a gift and you won’t be grateful for them because, you believe you deserve it or you’re owed such things.

The world doesn’t owe you anything you have to earn your place. God does not owe you anything. It’s all gifts. He gives everything to you as gifts and, If they are gifts, you have to be grateful for them. When you understand that certain things are gifts, you take joy in them and you know you have someone to thank for them.  Plus, the idea of gifts are so exciting. Like, I thought of you and got you this. But, when something is your right or when you perceive something as your right, you are not as excited and mostly, not very grateful for it.

I’m sure in your life, you have things that you don’t deserve, things that you’ve been given that you weren’t entitled to and the proper response to that is - gratitude. The proper response is thank you.

Work for what you want and be grateful for the things that are giving to you on a silver platter. There are very few things you have a right to, There are very few things you deserve , but there are so many gifts that have been lavished on you, therefore, be grateful for them. The more grateful we are, the more joy and absolute love we experience in this life 

Take a moment and be grateful for gifts, take a moment and be grateful to God