Entitlements

Is it a right?

That health care is for some
and not for others?
Do some people have a right to better education than
their fellows?

We spend too much time talking about
the "deserving poor"
or
the "deserving rich?"

I think a significant difference between american thinking
and Canadian thinking is that

americans think
they have freedom to....
(assault weapons come to mind here)
and Canadians have freedom from.....
(unemployment or poverty come to mind)

On a national level: Why do developed countries
have the right to consume as much as they wish--
but feel threatened when developing countries
begin to consume electronics or petroleum?

But more significant are individual feelings about entitlement.
They fight for the best stuff
take what is not theirs,
belittle others,
sneer at what others do or eat...

I used to feel my up-bringing lacked something
because I had learned
"don't ask for anything
because you can't have it."
But now I am satisfied that I learned
that I can wait for something,
delay purchases
and "make do."
And more yet, my children learned
to share,
are not wasteful with resources,
and love people around them.