i wrote a brief piece about Entitlement the other day [check it out by clicking here if you haven’t yet] and then i had coffee with my friend Megan.

Who told me what i already knew that the first post was just touching the tip of the iceberg and needed to go a lot deeper, but then gave me some excellent examples.

i do also feel that for those of you that have been engaging with this stuff, wrestling with it and trying to figure it out, that i shouldn’t have to lead you the whole journey and hopefully by just raising some issues and giving some examples, there becomes the start of a conversation to take to your friends, life group, family or community and then really chew this stuff through more together. Or in the comments section after this post if you’re serious about engaging with this stuff.

After all, as i like to say: You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it throw stones in glass houses. 

WHOSE ENTITLEMENT IS IT ANYWAYS?

So back to that thing. Megan mentioned two examples, which most of us probably take for granted and probably shouldn’t.

[1] The Beggar and My Bin

i wake up to a loud noise in the middle of the night. i stumble outside and see a person of the street rummaging through my dustbin, spilling most of the contents on the ground.

i am enraged. “How dare he?” is probably what i think. “How dare he make such a mess that i am going to have to clean up later?”

FREEZEFRAME

Just stop for a moment. Back up a few steps. And try to view this scene from outside of your body. What is going on here?

A man… a human being… if you’re a person of faith you might go as far as saying “A person created in the image of God” because that should really help it sink in a little bit further… is digging in my trash… in the hopes of finding some scrap of food or piece of garbage that he can hopefully turn into money somehow.

How inhumane are we to see that picture and the piece we walk away with is: That person is messing up my piece of the street.

There is a human being digging in my trash for the purpose of trying to stay alive a little more comfortably.

Explain it away, justify it, coat it with a thick layer of “probably drink or drugs” or whatever you need to do to make the image go away and become “normal” again.

That should absolutely horrify us. And yet it doesn’t. It is something we accept… for someone else to be doing.

It’s okay for me if that is someone else’s son. Someone else’s mother. Someone else’s child. Someone else’s friend.

As long as it doesn’t inconvenience me too much when i have to go and clean it up.

[2] The Beggar at the Light. 

It really offends me when I pull up at the traffic lights and there is someone begging for money. And they’re not even selling the Big Issue or those offensive joke sheet paper things. Urgh, and this mother has a little child with her. What a bad mother. I am so offended right now.

Right?

FREEZEFRAME

Just stop for a moment. Back up a few steps. And try to view this scene from outside of your body. What is going on here?

Same thing, right? We have a human being yada yada yada whose daily life has been reduced to standing at a traffic light in the hope that someone will take pity on her. Maybe toss her a half eaten sandwich or some money to buy some food for her child.

“I can’t believe this person is so lazy and doesn’t just go and get a job”, we’ll think to ourselves, or out loud to whoever is in the car with us.

We rarely see the person. Usually it’s the annoyance. The offence of how hard my life is that i have to deal with this person now and they won’t even take “No!” for an answer.

ENTITLEMENT IN ITS MANY SHAPES AND FORMS

This rabbit hole goes so much deeper and as i suggested earlier, i hope this will be a catalyst for some conversations you have this weekend. What are the things you feel entitled to? And what is the next step? 

Would love to hear some thoughts and ideas in the comments.

i hope i’ve offended you with this line of thinking… because as C.K.Louis says:

ck