Today's Thought - Entitled Toddlers

I read Ann Landers and Dear Abby - yes, I admit it. I read them for two reasons: 1 - They (and those who write them now) give great advice and have rarely mess up, which is something I aspire to, and 2 - Many of the situations are challenging, but there are also a lot of really silly or obvious questions that make me laugh. One of those questions appeared yesterday, and I can just picture pseudo-Abby knocking her head against the wall. The writer was complaining about her vegan and vegetarian friends. She wrote that she always includes food that they can eat when they come over, but they "never - ever" make meat for her and her husband when they visit. She asked her other friends and it seems -remarkably - that they have all had the same experience. She suggested that the vegan/vegetarians could send the leftover meat products home with their guests. The writer obviously doesn't understand the concept.

Some years ago, a couple who had been attending my church decided to no longer be involved because I didn't force the soup makers for our Lenten Suppers to make vegan soups. I told them that I always suggest this, as well as gluten-free options, but I do not dictate which soups are allowed to be made. I suggested that they, like a couple of others who attended, bring their own soup. They refused, saying that we should accommodate them. While we were sad to see them go, we were also a bit confounded by their demand. I can imagine the vegetarians in the story from Abby may have felt the same way we did. It brought home to me the sad revelation that not everyone knows how to act like adults. More than that, there's a lot of privilege and entitlement going around. The writer to Dear Abby didn't say the food was bad, only that they wanted some kind of meat and those mean old vegetarians refused to give in to their demands.

Recently, my wife and I were sitting in an almost empty restaurant at the low time between breakfast and lunch. Most of the window tables were reserved for lunch, so we sat where they put us. A couple came in after us and the woman demanded a window seat, even though they were all reserved for 30 minutes from then and her husband was fine with anything. She stomped out indignantly, dragging her embarrassed husband behind her. It was a window seat or nothing for her, which was too bad - the food was really good.?

There are a lot of entitled people in the world who expect everyone to make everything work to their benefit all the time. It may be a non-smoking area, but, by God, they will smoke. They might be driving in a school zone, but the speed limit doesn't pertain to them. They want the world to revolve around their wants and desires no matter how much it takes away from the needs of others. That isn't the way adults behave - this is toddler behavior. It seems that nobody said no to them when they were growing up, so they never learned that life doesn't work that way. The world is a much better place when we care about the needs of others before our own wants, don't you think?

Prayer - Holy God, we all want things the way we want them, but You teach us to put others first. May it be so. Amen.

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