Entitlement Of Values

I write this from a hospital bed awaiting surgery. When I was little every time I banged or bumped my head or scraped my knee, my first instinctive response was to run to my mother or father for help. Now that I live hundreds of miles from my father, and my mother has been gone for some time now due to the cancer that prematurely ended this life of hers, the analogy of running to my parents has yet to escape me. I like talking to my dad when I get sick, but I don't run to him anymore. I run to the "father" (not all of the time, but often and times like the moment I am in are a good reminder of where in I find my source... in God).

All of this to say, when I go to the hospital, or talk to my dad, I am not giving up on the "father". He uses all of that but is not all of that. The same is true of this earthly bundle. Neglecting to run to my country's government to subsidize my values doesn't equal not valuing education or good food or a philanthropic world view. It may simply mean that I don't believe that this mortal measure of my valuing something is most well expressed by deciding on behalf of my brother how best to spend his money while expecting that my government's investments are in reality better than my own.

"A government that can do everything for you is a government that can take everything from you." Abe Lincoln seemed to believe that our measure of our values were not well expressed by how much provisional power we handed our government. That seems to be the engine which gives birth to entitlement.

As a side note, do you realize that America still stands as the leader in how philanthropic its people are as a sum of individuals? This is exciting to me! It means that "we the people" are a generous and loving people when compared to other nations. But if we have decided to release our personal obligation toward a generous spirit, trading it in for a new entitlement while voting for a philanthropy measured by how our government spends or invests... we are beginning to intentionally play "seven steps to Kevin Bacon" in an attempt to become even more removed from the personal responsibility of our values.

I believe in an American dream that starts with a heartfelt desire, is moved to inspire others to join them, and which lives when people do something to make a difference. It is no replacement to imagine you can be generous or philanthropic with the  resources of others. Likewise my personal legaccy in life will not be measured by how much generocity I enabled by voting for it politically.