An unhealthy price paid for entitlements

FREE stuff is great. Back in the day, when I was allegedly a student, free drink was the big thing. An alcohol company would sponsor some college event, and throw in a few barrels. That beer went down really smooth. While knocking it back, myself and a friend might catch each other’s eye across the room, raise our glasses and exchange conspiratorial grins to acknowledge that we were on the pig’s back.

The problem was that pretty soon the only college events worth attending were those offering free booze. It came to be regarded as nothing less than an entitlement. How could you be expected to get through any of these events without the aid of a soft lens of alcohol, poured free gratis? There is nothing easier to engender in a human being than a sense of entitlement.

Whether the issue is completely trivial — or even obnoxious as above — or involves the most primal instincts, once a person believes they are entitled to something, a sense of grievance will attach if they are denied it. This is particularly the case when the matter at hand is free of cost.