Entitlement--real or imagined?

Driving to work this morning, I began to reflect on those things to which I am entitled. According to the Declaration of Independence, I am entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These broad but specific tenants encompass many activities and take many pathways. We are entitled to pursue happiness but not at the price of someone else's unhappiness. My liberty is only liberty if it is not the other person's straitjacket. Therefore, my entitlements are limited by my connectivity to other people's entitlements. To be selfish about what I perceive as my entitlements is to ignore the greater good not to mention the blessings that accompany me.

Unable to consider my education, my background, my skills, my family and friends, my successes as entitlements, I instead prefer to think of these things as being blessings, undeserving benefits and dividends. Driving to work each day in my truck, pulling up to a beautiful building, going into a stunning office with nice furnishings, books, computers, a piano, and lots of music, I marvel at the blessings surrounding me. Having the privilege to teach at an institution of higher learning, surrounded by brilliant colleagues, congenial students, supportive staff, and conduct worthy of a Christian university, I am continually humbled by my environment, by the opportunity to love my work and to do what I love. How many of us actually can boast of getting paid doing what we love?

Now it is nice to imagine a world of entitlements, a world where I actually deserve my blessings by virtue of my goodness, my behavior, my education, my gifts. I kind of like thinking that I am entitled to a great job, a beautiful family, a nice truck, a great church, a nice place to live, a free country, and I could list my "entitlements" to infinity. It is fun to actualize my dream world of perfection where my looks, my humanity, my existence gives me all these great things. I like to fantasize that the world falls at my feet begging to give me more and meet all my happiness needs. Ah, how fun!

But in truth, I don't believe we are entitled to much of anything other than the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. So I encourage us this Christmas to appreciate the gifts, to recognize the blessings, and to approach life with sincere humility. Perhaps then we can put aside our inherent selfishness and begin to regard the blessings as undeserved but appreciated. Recognition of such leads to fulfillment and an attitude of giving to others.