Era of Entitlement or It's not MY fault

Now to my original idea for the day. In a bizarre article from the AP, it is noted that a woman is suing Harpo Productions (Oprah Winfrey's company) because she got pushed down the stairs going to her seat. Are you kidding me? This ranks right up there with the woman who won a settlement from McDonalds because they sell hot coffee.

How did we become a society that believes that everything bad that happens to us deserves retribution? When did we stop realizing that bad stuff happens and that's what life is? When did we stop taking responsibility for our own actions? If the coffee is hot, don't hold it between your legs while you are driving. If the crowd is unruly, don't try to get in front of it and then be surprised if it knocks you down.

There used to be a piece that circulated the Internet and was attributed to Bill Gates. My friends at Snopes.com tell me that is not true. It is actually from Charles J. Sykes, author of the book Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why American Children Feel Good About Themselves But Can't Read, Write, Or Add. Here it is in its entirety:

Rule No. 1: Life is not fair. Get used to it. The average teen-ager
uses the phrase "It's not fair" 8.6 times a day. You got it from your parents,
who said it so often you decided they must be the most idealistic generation
ever. When they started hearing it from their own kids, they realized Rule No.
1.

Rule No. 2: The real world won't care as much about your
self-esteem as much as your school does. It'll expect you to accomplish
something before you feel good about yourself. This may come as a shock.
Usually, when inflated self-esteem meets reality, kids complain that it's not
fair. (See Rule No. 1)

Rule No. 3: Sorry, you won't make $40,000 a year right out of
high school. And you won't be a vice president or have a car phone either. You
may even have to wear a uniform that doesn't have a Gap label.

Rule No. 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait 'til
you get a boss. He doesn't have tenure, so he tends to be a bit edgier. When you
screw up, he's not going to ask you how you feel about it.

Rule No. 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity.
Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping. They called it
opportunity. They weren't embarrassed making minimum wage either. They would
have been embarrassed to sit around talking about Kurt Cobain all weekend.

Rule No. 6: It's not your parents' fault. If you screw up,
you are responsible. This is the flip side of "It's my life," and "You're not
the boss of me," and other eloquent proclamations of your generation. When you
turn 18, it's on your dime. Don't whine about it, or you'll sound like a baby
boomer.

Rule No. 7: Before you were born your parents weren't as boring
as they are now. They got that way paying your bills, cleaning up your room and
listening to you tell them how idealistic you are. And by the way, before you
save the rain forest from the blood-sucking parasites of your parents'
generation, try delousing the closet in your bedroom.

Rule No. 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers.
Life hasn't. In some schools, they'll give you as many times as you want to get
the right answer. Failing grades have been abolished and class valedictorians
scrapped, lest anyone's feelings be hurt. Effort is as important as results.
This, of course, bears not the slightest resemblance to anything in real life.
(See Rule No. 1, Rule No. 2 and Rule No. 4.)

Rule No. 9: Life is not divided into semesters, and you don't get
summers off. Not even Easter break. They expect you to show up every day. For
eight hours. And you don't get a new life every 10 weeks. It just goes on and
on. While we're at it, very few jobs are interested in fostering your
self-expression or helping you find yourself. Fewer still lead to
self-realization. (See Rule No. 1 and Rule No. 2.)

Rule No. 10: Television is not real life. Your life is not a sitcom.
Your problems will not all be solved in 30 minutes, minus time for commercials.
In real life, people actually have to leave the coffee shop to go to jobs. Your
friends will not be as perky or pliable as Jennifer Aniston.

Rule No. 11: Be nice to nerds. You may end up working for them. We
all could.

Rule No. 12: Smoking does not make you look cool. It makes you look
moronic. Next time you're out cruising, watch an 11-year-old with a butt in his
mouth. That's what you look like to anyone over 20. Ditto for "expressing
yourself" with purple hair and/or pierced body parts.

Rule No. 13: You are not immortal. (See Rule No. 12.) If you are
under the impression that living fast, dying young and leaving a beautiful
corpse is romantic, you obviously haven't seen one of your peers at room
temperature lately.

Rule No. 14: Enjoy this while you can. Sure parents are a pain,
school's a bother, and life is depressing. But someday you'll realize how
wonderful it was to be a kid. Maybe you should start now. You're welcome.

Rules 1, 2, and 5 are my personal favorites. I think it's time that school's go back to teaching those beliefs. Nothing makes me angrier that the local sports teams making everyone a "winner" in a contest. It robs the winner of the sense of accomplishment and makes the loser complacent.

While it may seem a small thing, giving a 6 year old a medal because he showed up in a race that he placed last out of 15 is wrong. It tells him that it's important just to show up, not to work to achieve, just to show up. How far a stretch is it to then evolve into a welfare dad (or mom) who feels entitled to government assistance merely because they breathe oxygen? They don't need to work because they've been taught it's enough to be here. That's all that's required for someone else to have to take care of them. That's crap and it's time we start teaching it in every home, church, school, job, and on every street corner!!!

We absolutely need to help those who for whatever reason (mental or physical defect for example) aren't able to achieve as much as their better able peers. That is the purpose of government to care for the common good. For the rest of you, get off your butt and get a job because I'm tired of going to mine every day so you can stay home and eat, drink, and be merry on my dime.