American Entitlement Culture Comes Home to Roost

American shootout at the Golden Corral

entitlement

noun

the feeling that you have the right to do or have what you want without having to work for it or deserve it, just because of who you are

I suppose you caught the video of the melee that unfolded last week at a Golden Corral in Pennsylvania. It was something to see. Grown adults, old enough to be parents and grandparents, wielding tables, chairs, and whatever else they could lay their hands on as weapons in an all-out brawl. Some say it was an ugly display of what America has become.

But some things are worth fighting for, right? Injustices have to be addressed, don’t they? I mean, we just can’t turn our heads the other way and behave as if nothing happened. 

I wish that I could report that this brouhaha was like that — that it resulted from patrons of this fine eating establishment standing in unison for world peace or something. But the sad truth is that the reason for the rumpus was much more mundane than that — much more self-centered.

The sad truth is that these people took up arms against one another because (and you may want to sit down for this one) Golden Corral had run out of steak at its all-you-can-eat buffet. That’s it! And in one act of righteous indignation, the people rose up and made it known that they weren’t going to take it anymore.

We are entitled to our steak at the buffet, and we demand justice! NOW!

I could just leave it right here. Either you get the ridiculousness of it all, or you don’t. Fine folks, loyal Americans, church-going folks maybe — fighting over a piece of dead cow meat. But if you don’t get the silliness of it, then I don’t know what else I can say.

What happened at the Golden Corral in Pennsylvania is a long way from President Kennedy’s vision for America that he laid out in his 1961 inaugural address:

And so, my fellow Americans: Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: Ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.

I am astounded that in one short lifetime, America has devolved from a people who would ask how they can make this world better for everyone into a seething mob hurling tables and chairs at one another and demanding that they get their fair share of the buffet. It has been a short transition from a people who valued the greater good of all to this crippling sense of entitlement that demands special treatment for the individual — for me.

“I want what’s mine!”

I have to be honest with you — this does not bode well for our future. 

I don’t know much about President Kennedy’s personal beliefs, but I am impressed that his speech on that day held the key for getting us back on track — if we’ll listen to him.

Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own.

Kennedy was right. The only path forward, away from the entitled mind that compels a man to say, “I want my meat and I want it now!” is to look upward and in humility ask God’s blessing on our minds and hearts. In other words, “he” must become more important than “me!”

Kennedy was alluding to the idea that we should love one another enough to work for a better world, but he wasn’t the first to say so. Jesus said it 2,000 years ago. The apostle John echoed Jesus’ words in I John 4:7:

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

Love like this is life changing. In fact, it’s culture changing. You won’t find people who’ve been transformed by the love of God shaking their fists and demanding that the Golden Corral pile their gluttonous plates with more meat. The reason you won’t see people who are truly redeemed displaying a sense of entitlement is that getting what we’re entitled to is the last thing we want.

If I got what I deserved, I would be dangled by God over an open flame and roasted to death. Rather than getting what I deserve, I am grateful that I’m getting what Christ bought for me when he shed his blood for my worthless hide. He did it because he loves me — he asked not what I could do for him but what he could do for me. And what he did for me was to die in my place. That’s life changing for me. So now, I pass it on — this love of God. 

It’s not too late, America. We can still turn from our sins and ask God’s blessing on our broken and sin-sick land. He can heal us of our entitled hearts and give us hearts that are fulfilled in our love for him and for our fellow man. 

I pray that this is the path we take.