The spread of information about human rights and personal rights has had a tremendous impact on populations who, for centuries, had no notion of what their dues were. Large sections of men and women were exploited by powerful groups who took advantage of the ignorance of those whom they overworked. That a fair wage and due hours of rest were the right of labourers was simply ignored for several generations. Landlords and factory owners benefited from the people they oppressed because, particularly, in small towns and in village communities, work and wages were scarce.
Like everything else — electricity, gun-powder, the surgical knife, the Internet — there is another side to this awareness. And, that concerns the rise of groups of all ages who not only feel entitled to certain privileges regardless of what they give back, but also to behaviour of a certain sort, uncaring of how unjust it is to others.
Entitlement
Are rights entitlements? To some extent, yes. You have a right to education and to food and shelter; you might therefore say that you are also entitled to these things. But, where might one draw a line? You have the right to the comfort you have earned. How entitled are you to it if you did nothing to enjoy it? Are you entitled to sit around comfortably when you should be working on an assignment while someone else does all the work for your ease? Are you entitled to disturb another’s rest because you cannot rouse yourself to make a cup of tea? This is particularly the case in families where one person is expected to either do all the work while others hold themselves aloof and do not participate at all. What is really bothersome about entitlement is when one or more persons (either individually or as a group) do not want to take the responsibility even for themselves. In any project or group work, there is always someone who expects everybody else to do what they are asked to do because the person asking “deserves” it. Hardly any apologies or acknowledgements follow.
If this is a description of someone you know, it is time to stop and think about how to alter things. You have only to watch people in airports or train stations to note how much more self-centred and entitled their behaviour has become, over the last 20 years. This isn’t only about children, though it might be especially descriptive of them across all classes.
We have to ask ourselves two questions — How fair is this? Is it too late?
Is it possible to reverse or at least stem the tide by teaching children that there are people other than themselves to be considered? Should we hold young adults more accountable for their actions? Or are we expecting too much? In her book titled The Me, Me, Me Epidemic: A Step by Step Guide to Raising Capabale Grateful Kids, Amy McCready says that there is a need to un-centre our children and get them to think outside of themselves.
Echoing through the centuries come the words of Jalaluddin Rumi asking for an account of our lives. “What did you do with the strength and energy your gave you on Earth?”
The writer is Series editor, Living in Harmony, OUP India