Observing without passing (much) judgment is something I think I do fairly well. In the end, I am fascinated by what makes people do what they do I guess.
In today’s age I observe a strong sense of entitlement from people. An old friend from high school and I were talking about this today. Maybe this has always existed, I don’t know. “I deserve nice things, so I’ll charge it on the credit card.” “I deserve to get their first, so I’ll cut in front of you across 2 lanes of traffic.”
I don’t think people are inherently rude or inconsiderate. I don’t think we could have made the world we see before us if that were the case, but (as evident in the same world I cite) we certainly aren’t perfect. In my experience I can link many people’s negativity and psychological resilience to a sense of entitlement, and I think it’s a sad mindset to be in on both a personal and societal level. If you feel you are entitled to everything, then the world must be full of injustice, and quite frankly, a pretty damn depressing place. If you, however, accept that things are the way and you are only entitled to what you get out of an experience, life might be much more rewarding.
Oddly enough, this same sense of entitlement that makes individuals miserable can make a corporation very rich. If you can convince someone they’re entitled to something beyond their means, then you’ve created a marketing mechanism with greater power than any slogan can produce (consumer credit being the obvious big winner here).
In the end, I think entitlement is the end to something. Meaning, entitlement is the result of a feeling of emptiness occupying many people, which I see as whole different issue. Maybe something I can report on later.