Entitled to Ease

Let me begin by calling this post, simply, what it is to me: self-condemnation. I am guilty of what I write below, but I consider myself (at least) wise enough to acknowledge the problem instead of blaming others. I also believe there are ways to correct the problem and yet I am not where I likely should be on that path because of my own choices - and in some cases, desires. These choices are mine and so I must also 'own' the problem that leads to my problems, and subsequent choices. The problem is ease.

I write this on a work-provided laptop in a comfortable apartment, with the fan and gentle hum of a refrigerator doing what they are designed to do, and I am not in the least worried about what (and certainly not whether or not) I will eat tonight. I am surrounded by ease, and honestly I like it.

I don't have to use this MacBook to type a post, but it's easier than doing it on my iPhone or iPad. I don't need a fan to keep me cool when I could easily wave one of my hundreds of books or DVD cases and get the same, albeit quicker and not as evenly dispersed, effect. I don't need a refrigerator but it cuts down on walks to the store. And I don't need to eat tonight - meaning I won't starve if I skip this meal - but I probably will because... that's what a mouth is for.

But mouths are also for speaking (etc.), and the world has taken notice of a specific group of speakers over the past several weeks. Beginning in New York and then spreading from there, major cities have followed rank and file the Occupy Wall Street movement. Much is being said about the movement, so that it could be hard to distinguish truth from fiction: corporations are evil and greedy; 99% of the people in America are tired of 1% holding all the money and power; the 99% are standing up and saying they're not going to take the injustice/greed/violence done by the 1% anymore; the richest are all Republicans that don't care about the rest of society; capitalism is bad; all occupiers are hippies/druggies/racists/bums; occupiers want the wealth of the hard-working rich to be redistributed so they get some without working to acquire it; occupiers are lazy Democrats/liberals; socialism and communism is what they're pushing, and both are bad; and the list goes on and on and on and...

There are numerous voices speaking, but I would ask if they deserve to be heard or are merely talking because they have the right to speak. If the latter is the case, why do we listen as though each person's points hold equal value? I know, it seems like an unfair, even harsh, thing to say. But there are times when political correctness only leads you to political avoidance of what really matters. Sentimentality would say all must be heard because every person has an opinion. Reason would say that one must earn the right to speak by doing so with wisdom, grace, and a worthwhile argument. When did we become afraid to draw out inconsistencies and say that not everyone's opinion is valid? Listen to what this one student has to say about a "value" that is important to him, and how his interviewer responds:




There are, however, voices out there that would speak against a "movement," who would speak out in reason when faced with a vocal minority like Occupy Wall Street and its state-specific off-shoots. One of them is Bill Whittle. I encourage you to watch his Afterburner video and, if you choose to, follow along with the transcript below.

"Well, hi everybody, I'm Bill Whittle, and this is Afterburner. Well, there are protestors in several major American cities using their iPads at Starbucks to make Facebook and Twitter updates on the evils of corporations and you don't know whether to laugh or cry, honestly. What we're seeing here, I think, are the self-esteem movement's chickens coming home to roost. These kids are upset because the $100,000's of debt they took on in order to get their degree in Bitterness Studies isn't paying off with a six figure job, and a car, and full benefits at an organic farm collective. I feel genuinely sorry for these people, I really do. These are people that are born under the asymptote - and I'll get to that in just a second.

You know, if you look deeply into human history, you'll see that every civilization collapses the same way. They're not overrun by barbarians - that happens later. No, they fail because of their success. Prosperity makes them lazy and breeds a sense of entitlement. They're trapped under the asymptote. Let me show you what I mean: here's an exponential curve - now, this is what life looks like for a growing and healthy civilization. You work hard and the quality of your life improves. Every day things not only get better - they get better faster. But then something happens: the prosperity curve becomes asymptotic. Things still get better, but by smaller and smaller and smaller amounts as time goes on.

These people don't know what they're protesting but I do. They're protesting the fact that they've never been hungry, never been cold, never been without TV and air conditioning in a car, they've always had a video game console and a laptop and a smart phone and they never ever had to do any long, hard, or real work for any of it. They were born into a level of prosperity so pervasive that the very idea of a difference in prosperity became vulgar and disgusting to them. These kids couldn't even become relatively more or less prosperous on the soccer field because having winners means having losers. And these precious snowflakes have been told how wonderful and unique they are their entire lives and everyone has always come in first place. Only now, they're out in the real world, and the real world keeps score.

You know, I could cure this asymptotic disease. I could stop the rise and fall of civilizations, I really believe I could. Because, at its core, this isn't about corporations or the economy or what they paid for their bad education. What it's really about is ingratitude. Ingratitude and entitlement and an utter lack of perspective. So, I'd provide some perspective and I'm afraid I'd have to do it by force.

You see, to cure this sickness I would take from every single American between the ages of 10 and 60, say, one percent of their life every year. There are 365 days in a year so one percent of that is 3.6 days so we'll just round it down. We'll say three and a half days. And during those three and a half days I would force everyone to live out in the woods in a cabin. I wouldn't make anyone chop wood - if you want to shiver through three nights that's your business. I'd make people carry their own water up from the river - hey, if you don't want to go through the trouble to boil it, be my guest. Recovering from amoebic dysentery will be part of your education. I'd make everybody grow and harvest their own food or dig up roots or collect berries. Or not. You can sit and complain about it and not eat for three and a half days if you'd prefer. And, like most modern Americans, I have a soft spot for little furry animals, but I would make people trap and kill and skin them in order to stay alive - that goes for chickens and fish as well.

You see, reality can be ugly and bloody and horrible. And that's something that those protesters have been protected from their entire lives, but not anymore. Play time is over now. Now I think that after three and a half days, days spent working hard, gathering food, chopping wood, and carrying water; night times spent with no iPad, no smart phone, no WiFi, no DVDs or Xboxes. I think that would be just enough to make people like this appreciate the fact that there are people out there who will do these things for you. I think three and a half days out there every year for fifty years would make you very grateful that there are groups of people willing to pump and purify your water, provide endless and affordable electrical power so you can be 72 degrees all the time. That there are people who will kill, clean, cook, package and deliver food so that you don't have to see the blood or the dirt - all of those things.

And that these groups of people who provide these services are called corporations. Who feed their own selves and their own families by doing these ugly, difficult, unpleasant things for you and charging more than it costs. There are people out there doing that right now, not for three and a half days, they do it every day. They're called farmers and they work for corporations called Kraft and Green Giant and Mon Santo. You should be grateful, and you should thank them. And there are people out in the Gulf of Mexico and the North Sea wrestling with steel beams the size of automobile transmissions in 60 mile an hour winds to bring up the oil to charge your iPad and run your AC and your Xbox and your Prius. They work for companies called Exxon and Shell and BP and you should be grateful and you should thank them. Now three and a half days is all I'd need. What those protesters need is to grow up.

After watching this video, I thought it worthwhile to search for the transcript online. Unable to find it, and much to the chagrin of my wife,  I then felt it worthwhile enough to transcribe it myself. I can't claim any part in writing it, but I claim every right to agree with it. We often feel entitled to things we have grown accustomed to for no other reason than we are accustomed to them. If we've had something in the past, and still want it, shouldn't it be ours? And if it's not - whether due to unfortunate circumstances, bad choices, laziness, apathy, or the subversive work of another to keep us from having it - shouldn't we be able to call 'foul' and play the victim and the oppressed?

These questions describe toddlers. More specifically, the thought processes of toddlers prior to becoming others-aware. Young children without the sense or the perspective to understand that sometimes what is hard or painful is not bad and what is easy or comfortable is not good. I have done much reading on children in the past year due to my having a son and wanting to be the best father I can be. I don't expect it to be easy - and in fact, it hasn't been - but I certainly expect that, without studying and doing the work, I will be worse at it for my lack of preparation. But, as it pertains to this movement, I wonder if people can truly defend their rants personally or if they're just circling the bandwagons and hoping to be a part of something bigger.

Forgive the language, but appreciate those who do work hard.

That is to say, I think people are thinking about these Occupy issues a lot, and yet I struggle to find any place where they are well thought out. There is certainly cause for those legitimately wronged by true, rather than supposed, greed (and its damaging consequences) to fight back; to stand against greed, corruption, corporate abuse of those in lower income brackets, and the like; but let's not be too hasty and wind up elevating the ignorant among the occupiers or crucifying the innocent among the elite. This, no matter our anger over those that do wrong, is indefensible. For instance, the affluence of our culture - which is a large rallying point in these public protests - has reenforced the very sedentary lifestyle that Andrew Weil says, in his new book Spontaneous Happiness, is actually bad for our health and our mental well-being. I wonder if such a dive in mental health is largely to blame for those who would rather rail against the people who make such large sums of money by what they do than get out there and work to make money themselves... even if that means doing work they consider to be 'beneath' them.

I know what it's like to be in want but also to be comfortable. I have had to rely on others in times of extreme need and I hated it. I hated feeling like I couldn't provide for myself or for my family. There is no worse feeling for a man, but I could not in good conscience turn the fault on someone (rich) or something (corporations) else. Right now, at this point in my life, I'm relatively comfortable. And this new movement makes me very wary of that feeling. I know I need to fight the subtle call to expect what I don't work for, or feel entitled to what I don't personally provide. We should all be wary of this.

So, what I want to hear from some of you is this: after taking a look at your life and honestly assessing what you use and enjoy and did relatively little to create or acquire, what do you feel entitled to? And more importantly, what are you going to spend Thanksgiving being thankful for? After all, that is what a mouth is for.

For those interested, I continue this dialog in Entitled to Ease, Pt. 2.

__________________________________
For those interested, here is more information on products listed above: