Entitlement is a loaded word.
When spoken or written, there is a sudden mental jerk that conjures associations with privilege—generally kids living off their parents’ money, spending on credit things they didn’t earn for themselves. On that note, the word “earned” is often falsely used as a polar opposite to “entitled,” insinuating that both are absolute, unrelated and cannot exist within the same sphere.
This type of thinking excludes the logic, of course, that there are some things in life we have earned simply by being human beings, and are thus entitled to. Most obviously, I can point to the Declaration of Independence, stemming from John Locke’s theories on human entitlement, which states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
This statement isn’t meant to be a guarantee—not all people across the globe will necessarily be successful in their endeavors to mold a happy, healthy existence while enjoying the freedoms of a government established under the banner of liberty. However, the idea and intent behind the opening line is that they ought to be, and it is under that belief that, supposedly, civilizations considered to be progressive operate. Because of this, schools of thought have produced leaders who have sought to make equality of opportunity a reality, notably through the public school system (hereafter referred to as “free” education) and, more recently, universal healthcare, to maintain the idea that people deserve basic treatment to create a nation of healthy citizens (hereafter referred to as “free” healthcare).
Here’s the thing about “free” healthcare and “free” education: They’re not free. I am a supporter of both wrongly named concepts, and I understand perfectly well that they are not free. Quite frankly, no one is pretending they are. Here’s another thing—I don’t mind. I don’t mind knowing my tax dollars are going to provide healthcare services to someone who can’t afford them because I believe it is compassionate and part of my job as a human being to help fellow humans. I don’t mind my tax dollars going to fund education because education opens doors too numerous to count and improves the lives of everyone around me. To quote Jon Stewart, “To the people who are upset about their hard-earned tax money going to things they don’t like: Welcome to the [expletive] club. Reimburse me for the Iraq war and oil subsidies.”
Similarly, author John Green wrote the following regarding “free” education: “…you need to remember that school is not about you. School does not exist for your benefit or the benefit of your parents; schools exist for the benefit of me. The reason why I pay taxes for schools even though I don’t have a kid in school is that I am better off in a well-educated world. Public education isn’t a charity project; I pay for your schools because I want you to grow up and make my life better… your education isn’t just about you; your nation is making an investment in you because they believe that you are worth it.”
I am a firm believer of the idea that in the grand scheme of things: no individual person will be important. Yes, there have been and will continue to be people who have made contributions so significant that they altered how the majority of people live their lives, and we remember these people in the pages of our history books and allow their wisdom to influence our actions and help us reach decisions about the problems of the present. However, from a purely objective stance, we are all just people, none of us more or less important than another. That being said, of course, our existence as a human being is the link that connects us and binds humanity together. Sure, we aren’t special when you consider the sheer amount of us, but humanity on the whole, over the course of our life here on Earth, has established that to give our lives a sense of purpose and meaning, we are born with inalienable rights—just like those mentioned in the Declaration of Independence. Though we, as a society, cannot (and should not) uphold one person above another, we can put in place programs that recognize our greatest investment is in ourselves, for our future as a species. As human beings capable of feeling emotions, creating and destroying, we have earned by our birth within our society as it stands today, entitlement to have a chance for upward mobility. We don’t deserve a guarantee, but we deserve a shot.
