Today we’re talking ‘bout my 
generation. Yes, those oft-cited Baby
Boomers, who have perverted the definition of the word "entitlement." There
was a time not long ago when "You’re gonna get what’s coming to you" meant
something bad was going to happen. Maybe it still does – we just don’t
know it yet.
Not so many years
have passed since the entitlement river flowed in the opposite direction:
people understood and accepted they had an obligation to their country
and to their fellow citizens. The Eighties may have been dubbed the "Me
Generation," but by current standards, the way we were was downright altruistic.
We may not like
to think of it as such, but selfishness has never been more in vogue. Just
look around.
It’s on the roads.
People think they just have to take or make that cell phone call. So what
if the driver behind you on the highway has to constantly adjust as your
speed vacillates between 70 and 50 miles per hour and you decide two lanes
are better than one. And the poor shnook trying to cross the street better
look both ways three times.
Music soothes
the savage breast, so it’s a public service to equip your vehicle with
speakers the size of camp trunks. Just can’t get enough of that Dr. Dre,
so why not share it with the rest of the world?
Those Goliath-sized
SUV’s? Sure, they’re twice as likely to kill another driver as a regular
car and they pollute the air three times as much, but you have to drive
something to the anti-gun rally and ecology-awareness meeting, don’t you?
You’re entitled
to sit high up and look out over traffic, even if the only view the person
behind you has is that of your license plate (possibly one of those cute
ones that say "Keep Kids Safe"). It may be the vehicular equivalent of
someone in front of you at the movies wearing a "Cat in the Hat" chapeau,
but you’re entitled.
And it’s about
time for another Persian Gulf War – these 50-dollar fill-ups are an outrage.
What’s the point in a federal government, if not to get you cheap gasoline
prices for your Suburban?
It’s in the schools.
You deserve a smart kid. B’s and C’s, not to mention D’s, are grades to
be given other children. Harvard and Princeton only have so many openings,
and those schoolteachers better recognize that your offspring are entitled
to one of them. The laws of statistics notwithstanding, Baby Boomers simply
don’t produce "average" children.
It’s on the playing
field. Not only is the fruit of your loins highly intelligent, Henry and
Hannah are darn good athletes. You are well within your rights to let that
Little League manager know he’s an ignoramus for giving your little Sammy
Sosa even one inning of pine time. And Stevie Wonder could have seen your
kid was safe at second, so go ahead and tell that $15-a-game umpire what
a moron he is.
Heck, it’s everywhere.
You’re entitled to be angry over life’s inconveniences – those are for
other people. Road rage, airline passenger rage, and the latest – supermarket
checkout rage -- is a perfectly understandable reaction to the world’s
numbskulls wasting your valuable time.
You’re also entitled
to be peeved about other people’s entitlements. Your kids are grown up
now, so to blazes with any bonding for a new school. You have a job, so
let’s not even think about those tax breaks for a new employer moving into
town.
And please, haven’t
you heard enough about entitlements for poor people? It may very well be
that the government allows you to deduct more in mortgage interest than
the cost of food stamps for five families, but at least you earned your
entitlement. Let ‘em eat cake.
If you’ve taken
the time to read this, you might think it’s not about you. Maybe you’re
right.
You’re entitled
to your opinion.