(Earning versus Deserving)
I called my son Calvin in Tucson the other day to tell him about the Honda Pilot I had recently purchased.
“Dad, it’s about time! You deserve it.”, he erupted.
(“Calvin,” I mused quietly to myself, “I earned it!”)
His words echo the chant of modern consumerism… that we deserve whatever we want, whenever we want it, as fast as possible and with no effort required! Now just why we should deserve everything is a mystery, but hey, no one cares- the “why” of it all fades away under the pressure of “when can I have it?”
As a child, my mom pounded into me that good things come 2 ways:
1. You work hard and earn them
OR
2. God smiles upon you and rewards your good deeds by giving you what you want.
Since then I’ve discovered it’s God’s will that mostly you just work hard to get what you want!
Not so much with son Calvin. Today’s advertising and worldly media have schooled him into a sense of entitlement. Working HARD to have something NICE seems like just a lot of… well… like a lot of HARD WORK, and who likes that!
Fast food giant McDonalds shares some responsibility in the misleading of Calvin with their recent “You deserve a break today” ad campaign. Really? …even if you haven’t done anything today? And our government waives the same savory slogan in front of us all as well:
You DESERVE more… and someone else should pay for it!
According to Uncle Sam, everyone should have free food, free college and lots of free time (with pay) …no work necessary! Apparently, at this time in history, it is your RIGHT to have SOMETHING FOR NOTHING.
Me? I am going to plod along doing what I have always done … I am going to continue to work hard (and smart) for what I want. It has worked well for me and for some reason I derive pleasure from this process. I sleep pretty well too.
And you? Well the path you choose is up to you but I can honestly say that your view of life will be better if you take the road less traveled and bypass the crowds waiting for everything they think they deserve. Forge ahead on the road that’s always under construction (it’s called “life”) and know that you can have what you need … if you are willing to earn it.
