Quote:
Originally Posted by BBsGarage
This attitude of "entitlement" is a growing problem. People seem to think they are entitled to things just because they want it. Never mind about working for something. Thats just an old fashioned way of thinking.
Its a dangerous path we as a society have taken. (IMNSHO)
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This is a quote from a book called Atlas Shrugged, it is very long and some of the language is difficult to understand, however it applies to this situation without question:
"'I do approve of it, Mr. Rearden. But I've chosen a special mission of my own. I'm after a man whom I want to destroy. He died many centuries ago, but until the last trace of him is wiped out of men's minds, we will not have a decent world to live in.'
'What man?'
'Robin Hood.'
Rearden looked at him blankly, not understanding.
'He was the man who robbed from the rich and gave to the poor. Well, I'm the man who robs the poor and gives to the rich--or, to be exact, the man who robs the thieving poor and gives back to the productive rich.'
'What in the blazes do you mean?'
'If you remember the stories you've read about me in the newspapers, before they stopped printing them, you know that I have never robbed a private ship and never taken any private property. Nor have I ever robbed a military vessel--because the purpose of a military fleet is to protect from violence the citizens who paid for it, which is the proper function of a government. But I have seized every loot-carrier that came within range of my guns, every government relief ship, subsidy ship, loan ship, gift ship, every vessel with a cargo of goods taken by force from some men for the unpaid, unearned benefit of others. I seized the boats that sailed under the flag of the idea which I am fighting: the idea that need is a sacred idol requiring human sacrifices--that the need of some men is the knife of a guillotine hanging over others--that all of us must live with our work, our hopes, our plans, our efforts at the mercy of the moment when that knife will descend upon us--and that the extent of our ability is the extent of our danger, so that success will bring our heads down on the block, while failure will give us the right to pull the cord. This is the horror which Robin Hood immortalized as an ideal of righteousness. It is said that he fought against the looting rulers and returned the loot to those who had been robbed, but that is not the meaning of the legend which has survived. He is remembered, not as a champion of
property, but as a champion of
need, not a defender of the
robbed, but as a provider of the
poor. He is held to be the the first man who assumed the halo of virtue by practicing charity with wealth which he did not own, by giving away goods which he had not produced, by making others pay for the luxury of his pity. He is the man who became the symbol of the idea that need, not achievement, is the source of rights, that we don't have to produce, only to want, that the earned does not belong to us, but the unearned does. He became the justification of every mediocrity who, unable to make his own living, had demanded the power to dispose of the property of his betters, by proclaiming his willingness to devote his life to his inferiors at the price of robbing his superiors. It is the foulest of creatures--the double parasite who lives on the sores of the poor and the blood of the rich--whom men have come to regard as the moral ideal. And this has brought us to a world where the more a man produces, the closer he comes to losing all his rights, until, if his ability is great enough, he becomes a rightless creature delivered as prey to any claimant--while in order to be placed above rights, above principles, above morality, placed where anything is permitted to him, even plunder and murder, all a man has to do is be in need. Do you wonder why the world is collapsing around us? That is why I am fighting, Mr. Rearden. Until men learn that of all human symbols, Robin Hood is the most immoral and the most contemptible, there will be no justice on earth and no way for mankind to survive.'" - page 531-533, Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand
There are too many unproductive people complaining that "it's not my fault", and doing nothing to correct the problem. We have
all bought gas, and thus it
is our problem, and we all have to correct it. The people that go out and buy a big SUV, and then complain that it costs over a hundred dollars to fill it, are not solving the problem. We, people who become informed, purchase smaller, more efficient vehicles, seek to correct our driving techniques, modify our cars, and find alternative ways of transporting people and goods, are the ones who should be paying less for gas and diesel, because we have
earned it through hard work and sacrifice. If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. Many may disagree with this rant, however, read the passage above again. It will make sense and cause you to think carefully about whose fault the problems that face our world really are. I can start by pointing my finger at myself, and make a move to correct the situation.
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