Admittedly, I’m a cultural Luddite. I’ve only seen the first two Star Wars movies, which I think are episodes 3 or 4 or something, and I couldn’t tell you the difference between Marvel and DC, comic book or movie-wise. To me, Grand Theft Auto and Mario Kart may as well be the same game. And Fortnight is a time span, one that should be used more often in conversation, IMO. While we’re at it, I’d also like to see $10 bills referred to as sawbucks, cars as horseless carriages, and jeans as dungarees. And GET OFF MY LAWN, DANG BLABBIT! Used to be, we had more important things with which to concern ourselves. Not all that long ago, it was all we could do to avoid getting scurvy and/or rickets, keep from losing a limb while working a 12 hour day down at the factory, and stave off the Red Menace, or commies as we used to affectionately call them. Life was harder, or at the very least not as easy.
I’m certainly not harkening for ascetism. Far from it! I live in Florida, and if you think for a nanosecond that I don’t offer homage to Willis Carrier, the patron saint of air conditioning, you are sadly mistaken. That said, I think we have grown soft. Our lives are saturated with comfort and convenience. The very things we deemed as luxurious excesses not long ago we take for granted. I remember wistfully dreaming when the wonder of cable television would be available to my locale, and now shake my fist when the WiFi isn’t lightning quick. We’ve been conditioned into an attitude of entitlement, and we’d be hard pressed to single out the primary cause. It’s no longer sufficient to enjoy a tasty chicken sandwich prepared for us at a reasonable cost. Now, we demand that sandwich, with waffle fries and sweet tea, be handed through our car window in a minute or less after ordering. Using a plastic card, by the way, because who has time to fiddle with cash?
A casualty of our current entitlement culture is thankfulness as a mindset and thanksgiving as an action. We are so used to having every thing we need, often without much effort, struggle, or sacrifice, we simply don’t appreciate that which we do have. We’ve lost the “attitude of gratitude”, and are experiencing a toxic fallout (Rom. 1:21).
(Click “Stand On Firmer Ground” for a deeper look into All But Extinct)