Humility versus Entitlement

When I was a teenager, my mom would send me to Iceland with a whole suitcase full of gifts for all the relatives. I remember handing them out, and I felt like some sort of Orange County Santa Claus, everyone was so excited and so thankful. Sometime in my mid-twenties, when my mom would still ask me to bring over gifts for everyone, this began to change. The things I brought didn't engender much excitement; there were comments about items not being the right brand or not fancy enough. Even the gifts to the kids were less and less of a hit. And so I've scaled back. 

I haven't been able to exactly put my finger on why the protests here in Iceland bother me so much, but I think it is related to the same idea of gratitude and humility versus entitlement.  

If there is one word I would use to describe my grandmother, it would be that she was a humble woman. Most of my family here in Iceland, I would describe that way. Now I know plenty of humble people in the United States as well, but during my teenage years, it seemed to me that Southern Californians suffered from an intolerable level of entitlement, and so it was a genuine relief to come here to Iceland, where people were grateful for what they had. Now it seems to be reversed, that the Icelanders are protesting because they think they are entitled to some sort of level of security, wealth, government transparency, governmental responsiveness, economic stability, political capital, and health and social services that far exceeds rational expectation, far exceeds anything an American would expect. I know there are Icelanders, especially over Christmas, who were talking about being grateful for what they did have, humbly appreciative for the simple gifts of family and friends and food on the table.  I guess I think none of us are entitled to anything more than that, really. The super-structure of governance can always stand improvement, and certainly should be improved through the diligent efforts of thoughtful, educated people. But protests ought to be reserved for those times when one is arbitrarily and unfairly kept from friends and family, or when one cannot feed one's children. In my humble opinion.   

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