One of the principles we teach today

One of the principles we teach today July 25, 2016

A child shows up at a park to play with a bunch of kids who are already there.  The kids are playing basketball. The child wants to play kickball.  The kids say they were here first and would rather play basketball.  The child immediately jumps up and down, yells, and demands that either they play kickball despite what the rest want, or nobody gets to play anything.   As adults, we naturally side with the child.

And that is the essence of our age of entitlement.  The majority is irrelevant, the foundations of society of no concern.  There’s me and there’s, well, me.  So a single complaint causes a High School halftime performance to be changed.  I wonder if I can have John Lennon’s Imagine pulled if I hear it played at a school function.  Actually, I’ve heard many schools play it over the years at various functions.  It never occurred to me to complain, but then I was raised to think that, despite cultural conditioning to the contrary, I’m not the center of the universe.


Browse Our Archives