Dec 16

Written by: tim
12/16/2009 10:33 AM 

This morning I woke up around 5am.  For some of you this would not be that big of a deal because you do it every day so that you can make it to work on time.  I sometimes will voluntarily get up early because I know I have a lot to do.  This morning was not one of those mornings.  My alarm was set for 6am which is a far cry from 5am.  I don't even really know why I woke up that early but as I surrendered to the fact that my rest was over my mind began to hum. 

I'm not sure exactly when but at some point the humming turned to the recent events surrounding Tiger Woods.  I don't usually think about such things in the morning but the thoughts just kind of kept tumbling about in my then mostly awake mind.  Soon those thoughts were expanded beyond Tiger and included all of these high profile men who have taken a moral jump off the cliff.  There are many smart people who claim that part of what happens in these people is that they gain a sense of entitlement.  Their social or political status becomes, in their minds, license to live outside the confines of morality or even the law. 

I must tell you that this is article is not really about Tiger's or anyone else's transgressions or "sense of entitlement", it is about us.  So many of us are quick to point the finger at these celebrities who have affairs or are caught driving drunk or with weapons they shouldn't have or worse.  We suck up the news with a sense of shock that someone could possibly dare to think that they wouldn't get caught because of their fame or position.  We start talking about their responsibility as role models. 

What about us? 

Although it may not be on the same scale as famous folks I see a lot of us walking around with a similar sense of entitlement.  Consider:

A man grows weary of work or home and grants himself permission to escape into alcohol.

A wife doesn't feel her husband provides enough and so she "upgrades" to someone who can.

People see the invasion of "skin" into our everyday lives on TV, in magazines or even at the coffee stand and feel entitled to enjoy the view.  Society seems to accept it and therefore no one should feel guilty about anything.

Sometimes we all just feel like we deserve a decent life by virtue of the country we live in, whether we work for it or not.

Could it be that we're missing something here?