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Entitlement

[To effectively write about entitlement, the author chose to look up the definition to gain a better understanding of the word. The following is that definition:]

"Entitlement is a guarantee of access to benefits because of rights, or by agreement through law. It can also refer, in a more casual sense to someone's belief that he/she is deserving of some particular reward or benefit. It is often used as a negative term in popular parlance (i.e. a 'sense of entitlement'). The legal term, however, carries no value judgment: it simply denotes a right granted." Webster Thesaurus.

The word entitlement evokes a host of responses, all at the same time within me. Swimming in my thoughts are those that have slung the word around in recent years; which leads me to think of another word: Reparation.
Reparation, which by definition is the compensation in money, material, labor, etc., payable by a defeated country to another country or to an individual for loss suffered during or as a result of war.

And as American's everywhere know, the topic of Reparations is a sticky one indeed. To feel entitled for anything, one must have either been told verbally or in writing that some benefit or right is theirs to have. We do not hold to entitlements in our lives, we make our own.
Those that do not believe this to be true are living in a self-induced dream world of their own creation. No one is entitled to anything just by their being.
People must earn their entitlements.

Just as one earns the respect of their peers and colleagues, entitlements are not freely given. There is a quid-pro-quo mentality at work where entitlements are concerned. One must give in order to receive.

Reparations on the other hand, are paid via the guilt of one party to another for past wrongs. They can be forced by law (and often are) to be paid. I will not go into my personal feelings of reparations in the very distant past in today's society, for they are mine. I will however state that I feel that certain reparations are very deserved by those that receive them.

Earn your entitlements don't expect them.

Learn more about this author, Carrington M. Nye.
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