OPINION – I attended a Memorial Day service where I listened to a spiritual leader giving tribute to veterans who have served our country. However, when the spiritual leader touched on the lack of youth attending the service, speaking instead about vacations, social media and entitlement for the holiday, I wondered why he was criticizing our children.
Many of our children were working one of their many jobs in order to pay for rent, utilities, groceries, their basic needs just to survive in this society and government, which has taken away entitlements enjoyed by previous generations. They were working, not on vacation, not on social media, nor being disrespectful.
Not everyone is entitled to getting a Monday off from work to visit cemeteries and pay tribute to deceased family members and soldiers. Memorial Day was originally established in 1868 and celebrated annually on May 30th for over 100 years. In 1971, it was changed to the last Monday in May.
Now, while everyone else works, it’s a paid Monday holiday from work reserved for government workers entitled to this free day of pay. I also remember Memorial Day family activities of visiting cemeteries to place flowers on the graves of deceased family members, but I don’t recall a requirement of mandatory attendance to memorial services of fallen veterans
My children aren’t entitled. They don’t enjoy the privilege of past generations where one income was sufficient to provide for a family’s needs. They have to work multiple jobs just to survive, because government doesn’t feel they are entitled to fair wages.
My children don’t enjoy the entitlement of attending arts, music, and history classes in school as I did. Those classes were taken away, replaced with sports. If they want to learn those things, they must find a private source and pay for them. However, affordable education is no longer an entitlement.
The cost of education has risen at an accelerated rate greatly exceeding the rate of wages. When their finances are already stretched to pay for basic cost of living needs, they can’t afford educational venues, let alone things like art and music, which once were an entitlement in our schools. What happened to those educational entitlements?
Persons who claim our youth is entitled are often repeating the disparaging comments of opinion media sources about our children. When I hear someone speak of entitlement, I think of elected officials who give their children official roles for which they are not qualified. I think of religious leaders who act entitled to six-figure salaries from the charities they create. I think of people who feel entitled to receive volunteer services from our youth instead of paying them for their work.
I don’t think spiritual leaders should be criticizing our youth by reiterating the misleading comments of media opinion talk shows. Instead, they should be offering words of encouragement to our youth, defending their entitlements and privileges, and offering guidance for a better future.
My ancestors have served in the Revolutionary War, Civil War, WWI, WWII and other conflicts up to the Middle East conflicts. Their services to our country have earned the right of their children to enjoy whatever freedoms that they as parents felt they were entitled to enjoy, such as the pursuit of happiness.
As a parent, I think those entitlements are slowing eroding and being taken away from our children. Our military has for centuries defended civil and social rights in pursuit of a better tomorrow. In today’s environment of social conflict, we need to ask who is defending our children’s rights to basic entitlements of education, fare wages, healthcare and representation for their future.
Written by JOHN ELLIS, St. George
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Well I’ll tell ya, A lot of these retirees over 60 are absolutely bleeding the system dry. They have more entitlements that any humans to ever exist on this earth. They enjoy big fat subsidized pensions which are not offered any longer because they were just too generous and the system could no longer sustain giving them out. The most generous pensions left are mostly in gov’t.
I visited a little old lady a few months ago. She was probably about 80. She lives in a massive, monster size McMansion house, has a massive pool out back (which she doesn’t use but pays to maintain), has an absolutely massive size yard with a lot of landscaping. All of this takes lot of cash to upkeep, and the cost of heating/cooling such a large house would be enormous. All of this is paid for by her dead husband’s pension. He must’ve been some kind of a hotshot back in the day, but I have no idea what the profession was.
But guess where this money actually comes from? It comes from people that still work and have to pay taxes. These old people actually are sucking the resources of this country dry, and that’s why there’s hardly anything left to go around. It’s parasitism. We that work are paying for lavish lifestyles of excess in the form of these pension and retirement plans that were so lavish they couldn’t last and had to be chopped, so we that work today couldn’t even dream of having such a thing. They truly are parasites. A dream of mine is that some day we can find a way to chop down the lavishness of these entitlements. They will claim they worked hard and earned these entitlements. The reality is they have taken far far more than they ever put in and are simply parasites. I only hope the day will come.
As for memorial day events, they gotta get them mattresses sold. Who got the time to attend events? Them mattresses aint gonna sell themselves, and those of us who don’t parasite like these pensioners gotta be out sellin’ ’em, so the parasites can be out buyin’ ’em. cheers to all 😉
Seriously? You are accusing me of draining the system? Calling me a parasite? Look moron, I worked my ass off for 45 years, 60+ hours a week, weekends and holidays alike. Saved every penny I could so I could retire some day. I don’t have a pension, I just get by. I’m not living the high life, 30 years as a lineman racked my body with arthritis and (so far) three joint replacements and back surgery due in a few months. I’ve paid for EVERYTHING I have and will continue to do so.
Maybe you should consider getting an education so you can get a better job and start saving a little.
You missed the point mike. For example, GM production line employees at one time all would qualify for a pension at retirement. It was a crap job, but they needed almost no skills, the pay was decent, and they had a decently cushy retirement to look forward to if they put in the years. Things like this are just gone gone gone. New retirees are pretty much on their own other than social security. A lot of companies and gov’t gave out such plush pension packages that it’s just draining them to this day, esp in the case of state gov’ts. You may not be one of the parasites, mike, but a lot of them are. Folks entering the workforce today have more demanded of them than ever, wages are low, benefits are sparse or nonexistent, and pension packages have been gone for a looooong time; all this and the productivity of workers is higher than it’s ever been. It’s a race to the bottom.
All I can say to you, mike: you shoulda gone to work for gov’t when the gettin’ was good. Then you’d have that big fat juicy gov’t socialist pension check plopped into your acct every month til the end of your life.
And then there’s the multi-billion dollar bailout of GM’s pension system by Obama. Had gov’t not jumped in and rescued them all I think they’d all be SOL. So all those old GM pensioners are also living on the gov’s dime. Full-on socialism. Not sure if that’s a good thing at all?
Yeah, this conversation could go on forever. I did get your point though, just took it too personally cuz none of my retired friends got a golden handshake either. None of us worked for the government. The few that did get a pension from their private company, don’t get much and have to rely on S.S. and savings.
We could bring up “Public Service” jobs as well. (Police/Firefighters, etc) Many have pensions that pay 80-100% of what they made when they were working and most have cost of living increases built in so they are always ahead of the game. Yeah, life CAN be good !
I agree Dot. I have to work holidays that gov’t employees get off. Which is convenient, when I don’t want to attend any get togethers a with annoying family members.
However, I will never have a pension like those elderly people have today and probably can’t retire until after I’m dead ?
Your very mistaken and misinformed if you think most people have pensions. Not true. Once upon a time pretty much everyone worked until they died or simply couldn’t. Modern western society has spoiled us into thinking we are entitled to sit on our arses at someone else expense. If you can get away with not working, great. Otherwise, that’s life. Literally and nothing new in the history of mankind. btw I hear the green monster; you are jealous of people who have managed to get that pension.
Well shoot, let’s just say gov’t workers for sake of argument. I don’t really care about who gets what. I was just playing with Dot. Everyday above ground is a good day for me 🙂 I love life! I love my job! And I’ll work as long as I can. When the day comes that I can no longer work, so be it. I’ll move in with my kids LOL! P.S. I love working “holidays”
Children are working many jobs? Not in America. Get serious, most them are whining, playing video games, and haven’t a fricking clue what Memorial Day and Veterans Day is about and could care less. Not all but most. Ignorance, lack of education and complacency. Our snowflake society.
You don’t talk to many millennials do you?
Ya, us old guys are sucking the system dry. I do get SS but most of my retirement comes from me. I worked all I could and put every spare dime I had into 401k. A lot of people tried to draw it out early. I sucked it up and left it there. So go ahead and whine. 401k still exist. Make your own retirement. Or cry like a little baby. If you don’t have anything it’s your own damn fault.
Kinda sounds like you’re the one whining. I’m just telling things as I see them. Same response for you as for ol’ mike up there: you shoulda went to work for the gov’t. Think of all the free stuff you missed out on.
I’m not whining. I live a very comfortable life. I have a decent car a couple side by sides. Hunt and fish. I did notice just before I retired how much the younger people get away with. They show up late and leave early. If the show up at all. But they get away with it. I would have bee fired.