Deserving vs Entitlement

Deserving vs Entitlement

This week I’d like to talk to you about the difference between deserving and entitlement. Especially after the recent events in Charlottesville, VA involving Neo Nazis and White Supremacists. A group of people who cannot even begin to appreciate how much privilege they have – having been able to freely express their hateful message with no serious fallout. This is a group of people who believe they are entitled to privilege due to the pigmentation of their skin – an abhorrent ideology in my opinion. I recently read that many Neo Nazis came to White Supremacy websites through “Male Rights” sites that deal with the idea that men are entitled to certain things, like submissive and dutiful wives, and that the rise of feminism is “depriving” them of these “natural rights”. This is obviously an example of entitlement in the extreme and not representative of all people or men (although one person thinking this way is one too many in my opinion.)

I often talk about the things that we deserve, how we deserve love and respect from ourselves and from others. But we all need to earn this by treating others with the same love and respect that we all deserve. This means that we aren’t just entitled to having a loving partner, we have to be equally loving towards them. It’s like that old saying, “treat others the way you want to be treated.” Sometimes we’ll find people who can’t or won’t give us what we need – in which case it’s better to walk away because we can’t make people be or act the way we want, or even feel like we deserve.

Entitlement is a dangerous thing to partake in because believing we are owed something isn’t a healthy way to operate in this world. Life is what we make of it and walking around demanding what we believe is due to us, rather than interacting and earning those things, is a sure fire way to become embittered. We do all deserve respect and courtesy but we won’t always get it. That’s why it’s essential to be the main source of it in our own lives. Believing that it should be handed to us just because will lead to frustration and anger – two emotions that never lead to anything positive.

Here at Conquering Life we encourage people to know that they’re worthy of love and respect but it’s important to know that this should come from within. When you have inner strength and assurance it’s much easier to find those who will love and respect you, and it’s also easier to move away from those who don’t. We have to make our own lives and not expect things to be handed to us for whatever reason. Life has a tendency to ignore the reasonings of humans. Be a source of positivity in this world and watch how positivity comes back in return. Don’t sit around waiting and demanding, go forth and Conquer Life with love and compassion!