The Entitled "Me" Generation

This post has nothing to do with technology in any way, shape or form. It instead deals with something far more basic - and that is the consideration and regard we as humans should have - but more often than not, don't - for one another. What I'm about to say will no doubt ruffle a few feathers, but it still bears saying.

It has been said that, without some sort of intervention, what you are as a young person is what you will be as an older person. In other words, whatever tendencies a person has will simply become more hardened and more manifest as they grow older. My experiences over the course of my life tend to bear this out, and last night was no exception.

Those who regularly read this blog may remember that I work part time as a nurse's aide in a long-term care facility. And as we know the "baby-boom" generation are reaching an age when folks start needing nursing home care.

In the facility where I work, across the hall from each nurse's station there is a sitting area with a TV and a few recliners. These areas are enclosed by a low, 3-foot high wall and have an entrance that is about 2 wheelchair widths wide. Last night, late in my shift, one man in his 60s was sitting in his wheelchair - right smack-dab in the middle of the entrance to the sitting area. Another resident who was in the sitting area, needed me to take her to the restroom. After nicely asking him several times to please move, and being told "no", I pivoted his wheelchair a quarter turn so I could get past him and take the lady to the bathroom.
"G-ddammit! Don't push my chair around!!!!!", the man bellowed.
I calmly but sternly replied "sir, you were blocking the entrance so nobody else can get by you."
He snarled at almost ear-damaging volume "I don't give a SH*T about anyone else!"
I said "That is obvious, but your rights end where you start encroaching on somebody else's."
After putting up with nearly 7 continuous hours of residents' acting-out behavior (last night was especially bad, for whatever reason), I was thoroughly annoyed and that must have been apparent in the tone of my voice because the nurse said "hey - calm down and let it go." I replied "OK" and took the lady to the restroom and then got her ready for bed.

Upon returning to the nurse's station, I noticed the man had resumed his position blocking the entrance to the sitting area. In a low voice I commented to the nurse "that guy's attitude epitomizes what is wrong with that generation, and Modern America in general" - and repeated verbatim the exact phrase he said to me about "not giving a 's' about anybody". I added "People with THAT mentality are what bred and raised the current generation ... and that is in part why America is going down the cr@pper." She gave me an uncomfortable look but didn't say anything.

We have become a selfish, narcissistic society where our own corpreal pleasures are king - and to heck with the needs AND RIGHTS of those around us. A society where too many people feel entitled to take what does not belong to them - whether it be material goods, personal space, peace and quiet, whatever. That is why on a warm day one cannot be outdoors in the city or drive one's car without being assaulted by "boom car stereos". That is why criminals and drugs rule our streets. That is why corrupt politicians and Wall Street are robbing us blind while we sit watching Monday Night Football and "Dancing With the Stars." ALL of this, because as the Bible said in 2 Timothy 3:1-6 of the times in which we live, people "are lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of righteousness."

Indeed, as Hollywood and certain other dominant forces have exported their "values", business practices, and definition of culture elsewhere, the problem is becoming world-wide.

And, yes, there was nothing about this post that is "politically correct", but "political correctness" is yet another form of lying - another way of avoiding dealing with the issues at hand.