A thought crossed my mind the other day I think has merit. This is a personal support post with shades of current affairs. It’s difficult, to say the least, to remain true and constant to yourself when surrounded by opposition. Regardless of your political affiliation or personal preferences. I don’t think it is an exaggeration to say at times most of us fall victim to compromising who we are for a little validation or gratification. That being said, society has taken a drastic turn in how we respond to opposition of any kind. One does not have to do much searching on the internet to find an example of the problem. I believe there are a variety of topics that fall into this category; social justice, entitlement and offence to name a few. To stay on the path of least political resistance I would like to talk about the issue that I see the most in my day to day. When going about my everyday life, news aside, I do not see much of the so called, “social justice warriors” or people getting offended at the slightest insecurity. I do however, see a number of people who have or are succumbing to the increasing pressure to being entitled to something.

It has been a surprising and unwelcome companion. Entitlement does not appear to have limits to finance, politics, social rank or otherwise. I believe it is a character flaw and weakness perpetuated by an overreaching government , and supporters, that coddle and stoke these character weaknesses. There is no doubt that a society that is confident and happy will take care of their own, but if we rely on society to solve and fix then society will degenerate. Confidence and happiness has to be personal and individual and as individuals grow and share with others society will benefit. Most of us will have know a person in our lives that was great to be around, a good friend and comfortable being in their own skin. They were a positive impact in your life and you felt an urge to be like them or to be around them. Not because they shared the same insecurities as you. Or, they dragged others down in their conversation to feel more elevated and invite you to do the same so you could feel better about your own doubts and guilt. I hope you get the picture.

The person I described accepted the consequences of their actions, positive or negative, and planned accordingly. Society today is less willing to accept the consequences of laziness, inaction or just bad luck. They feel as if the world owes them something for which they have done nothing. There speech is fill with, “I should get…” , “I deserve….”, “I am entitled to…” or excuses for failings or hardships. We, individually, need to avoid such talk to grow confidence and personal accountability. Someone who is truly confident and self-assured will support others and help them grow. Let us not confuse, “support” with the modern meaning of doing everything for them. Support means to help and assist, but not to take over or do everything for another.

We want to be a society of strong individuals that do not bend to the notions of the few or the weak. We need to be a society of strong individuals who earn and merit what we have. We need to be a society of strong individuals that know life is beyond our control and at times bad things will happen that will shake us, but we accept it, learn from it and move on.

When we become a society of strong individuals we will cooperate, build up, prosper and support one another even when we don’t agree. Why you ask? Because we value ourselves, we are confident and successful.