“Age of Entitlement and Expectation”
-The Introduction-
Authors: Karen and Robert Palumbo

I would like to say a few words about this “Age of Entitlement and Expectation”. Does anyone really know what it even means in today’s world? Exactly what it is? It has occurred to me that we are all surrounded with it every waking moment of our lives, every day. How did we ever evolve to this point? What ever happened to independence and self-reliance?

Could it be that if someone wants something that you might have, it give him or her the right to just take it? We used to call that inappropriate behavior, jealousy, envy and at a stretch stealing. I say stealing because logic dictates that if someone else wants what you already have and they cross the line and take it, what else would you call it?

Have we reached a point in our society that everyone must be a clone of the next? Do we all laugh at the same jokes? Do we all dress identically? Well, in some schools yes. We call that a dress code, or in private schools we call them uniforms.

Is it wrong to be an individual in this day and age when instead we have groups that speak for us? Personally, I have always preferred to speak for myself. I figure that I can explain myself better than anyone else. After all, who knows me better than me? Is there any way to put a stop to it?

This new found attitude has encompassed itself in all of our lives and from the looks of it, it sort of just snuck in when no one was paying any attention. Could this “Age of Entitlement and Expectation” really be jealousy or envy or is it really greed? It just seems a little odd to me how it could have snuck in.

Perhaps we as a society just turned a blind eye and allowed it to happen to all of us. I am not really sure, but I can remember what life was like before it.

It was not always pleasant, but there was always an innocent king of “take it for granted” attitude or hope, as I like to refer to it as, that existed that does not seem to exist at the moment. Where did it go? How can we get it back?

Have we all forgotten how beautiful and wonderful life used to be when we were all independent and self reliant? Have we forgotten about all the freedoms that we allowed to slip through our fingers because we turned a deaf ear? It is time that we begin to pay attention again before we are left without anything.

What will we have to pass on to our children? You know, the next and up coming generation. Humanities gift to humanity. Each individual born is his or her own person. Would you want it any other way?

It really is up to us to teach our children to stand on their own two feet, not to lean on the person next to them. You see, to lean on someone else once in a while is okay, but to indulge in this type of behavior is dependency and that is not okay.

I have always liked independence and self reliance, at least it is a preference of mine. If we do not teach our children independence and self reliance how will they ever learn to stand up on their own two feet and speak for themselves?

What I hear about and even sometimes read in the local newspaper is how it takes an entire community collectively to raise children in today’s society. Again I beg to differ with this opinion because I am still of the belief that child rearing begins with the parents, not the community.

As parents, do you continuously over indulge your children with anything they may want? Do you go broke trying to please them? Do you find no matter what you do for them or what you give to them it is never enough? Try saying no. Try telling your children that if they want something they will actually have to work for it.

If we do not we will be doing a disservice no only to our children, but to ourselves too. We will be raising a generation of human beings that believe that the entire universe revolves around what they want only. Is that really what we all want?

We are beginning to have this already. I see it every time that I venture out, whether traveling locally or long distance traveling. Most people today do not even use the words than you, please and excuse me. It is like these words have been erased from everyone’s vocabulary. Whenever I should come across someone who actually uses these words I am always quite surprised. That is when I see that little ray of hope all over again.