A Sense of Entitlement – Happiness, Time and Love

I was speaking with one of my Facebook friends whom I do not remember ever meeting – but never the less – I read her status’ and admire her thinking. We were discussing life and dreams. How people all around us take the gifts that have been bestowed upon us and act as if its earned.

A child is born – they are understandably loved. This love is instantly unconditional.

This child will grow up always expecting that love to be there – for their parents to be there and to always be loved. But time passes and sometimes the road in life is not one where things work out as we expect them to. Love, life and time run out and we are left standing outside in the rain as the train leaves the station without us. Wondering just how to get back in time and make things better. (You cant, trust me I tried).

The child expects that unconditional love from their friends, their partners in life and from the people they try to do business with. Most of the time this unconditional love is never matched. The child – now an adult – is taken aback.

“How can they not like me?”

Life has many, many ups and downs. A baseball player deems a 30% success rate extremely successful – with a 40% success rate almost impossible – why do human beings look at a 30% success rate as failure?

In some scenarios – I can understand. Marriage for instance. Some people have a 100% success rate (That success is ignoring the state of the marriage) while others have 100% failure rate (That failure is ignoring the state of the marriage).

The analogy of baseball is always my favorite. Think about it – you are sent to combat another human being who is going to throw something at you – in order for you to travel you must hit the ball without anyone catching it on the fly.

But you stand up there, uniform on, bat in hand, legs firmly on the ground staring at the pitcher, his eyes, his hands, his every movement to get a clue into what he is thinking. He looks like he is ready to throw the heat – so you tense up and get ready for it only it changes course at the last millisecond. 

You are never 100 percent certain what the pitch will be. Some pitches will zoom right towards you, some will seem they are coming right at you and then at the last millisecond – change their course.

Hence the saying, “When life throws you a curve ball you need to adjust.” (OK, I made up that saying, but hey they do begin somewhere.)

The batter gets out most of the time but enjoys every second standing at home plate. The sound of the field around them, the feel of the bat, the pain in the knees and the dirt in their mouth and on their face. Each and every second is never taken for granted – otherwise they wont get that next at-bat.

The gist of this post is this: Never take anything in life for granted. Not the good or the bad.

Love is NOT an entitlement. Love is something that should be treasured and safeguarded. When someone loves you – any living thing for that matter – you must treat it as something more valuable than gold or diamonds.

Life is NOT an entitlement. We are sent here for reasons truly unknown but guessed at. Live. Do not just go through the motions – smile and make others smile, tell stories or just listen really well.

Time is NOT an entitlement. The seconds hand just keeps spinning forever – there are no pause buttons. Its moving constantly – how do you use your time? (By reading my stuff? Well that is great – don’t stop and tell your friends) Take advantage of each moment you are awake – don’t drink too much or do drugs – what do you have to show for that? Lost time – lost opportunities in life – you never get them back.

Before you know it – yes Virginia, there might be Santa Clause within each person but that cannot stop the seconds hand from stopping and no one can ever bring back time, undo or redo the things we should have done better. The people we should have loved and cherished by expressing ourselves and being there.

So as my preaching comes to an end – I stress love, live and make the most of your time with yourself and with the ones you love.