As we get older we find ourselves dealing with people who seem to be getting younger. I have on more than one occasion worked with people that are the same age as my adult children. We navigate our social interactions at work differently when we work with the younger associates and at the end of the day we call our friends that our own age and commiserate about the surreal events.
One word that comes up in the commiseration is entitled. It is a buzz word and an easy excuse for why the younger generation, shows up late, does not complete projects, when they do complete projects they are not on time or of the correct quality and complain about the criticism given to them or the lack of job growth they are given. Originally I was able to get behind this buzz word and tried to give it some traction. However when I began to think, I mean really think about it, the power of the buzz word, like all the others, fell apart and lost steam.
Entitled means that we are deserving of privileges just because we are here and in certain cases this is correct. I truly believe that there are rights that living beings possess simply through being born. When beings have these rights taken away from them we are living in a society that is broken.
The more I live the more I think that people at all ages are truly products of the society they live in and if I want to see change. If I want to see progress I will have to work towards changing society so that at the very least all people get what they are entitled too.
What are we entitled to? At the very minimum we are all entitled to respect. Respect is and should be given even if we do not feel that someone has earned it. We should respect and care for everyone no matter how awful we believe they are. They idea that respect should be earned is toxic and is creating a society in which our coworkers cannot thrive and live their best lives.
At the end of the day we would do well to respect everyone.
The Corrigan Encore 