Many are talking about entitlement. It has become the recognized sin of our time. A provincial premier uses taxpayer’s money for expensive airfare and the media speaks of an environment of entitlement within the government. The Boomer generation feels entitled to an affluent retirement after years of hard work. The Millennial generation feels entitled to start out on their own with at least as much prosperity as they had in the household in which they were raised. North Americans believe they are entitled to a degree of safety that is far beyond what is achievable in most other parts of the world.
Guy Kawasaki says, “Entitlement is the opposite of enchantment.”1 I like that. When I read those words I hear them in the opposite order: “Enchantment is the opposite of entitlement.” I want to live with a sense of enchantment; to be enchanted by the beauty of this country; enchanted by the good in people; enchanted by every breath I get to take; enchanted by forgiveness; enchanted by self-sacrifice; enchanted by love. That might just cure me of my own sense of entitlement.
1 http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/g/guykawasak458318.html