The Need For Competition

 After decades of kids getting participation awards and attempts to take competition out of childhood, it seems that too many people feel entitled to success.  No one is entitled to success; it is something that normally has to be earned.  Hard work generally brings rewards.  Not following the rules also bring consequences.  

This thought came to mind when I heard a news report this morning about the riot in Chicago last night.  Rioters attacked and looted stores in the main downtown shopping district of the city.  Police tried to stop them.  I heard one of the people who were present outraged because he had seen the police "beat up" one of the looters.  Unbelievable!  Here was a guy who was upset because police had used force to stop a serious criminal act.  Apparently, the guy thinks that people are entitled to loot stores with no consequences.

The other day I also saw a video of a group of Antifa thugs who started to menace a patriotic rally but who were then run off by the people at that rally.  The Antifa thugs were complaining loudly that their treatment was unfair.  They felt entitled to menace the other people, but when the tables were turned against them, it was just "unfair".  These are people who really don't understand that they are not entitled to success.  Actions have consequences.

The lack of understanding these basic life lessons is not limited to rioters and thugs.  Just look at the people who govern us.  A good example here is NYC mayor DeBlasio.  He decided that in the middle of everything that has been happening, it would be a good use of his time to spend a day painting "Black Lives Matter" on the street in front of Trump Tower in Manhattan.  There are laws that govern such things; street painting actually requires obtaining a city permit. (In NYC, there is always a need for a permit.)  DeBlasio didn't bother with a permit though, so his painting was actually in violation of the law.  Anyway, DeBlasio thought that tweaking Trump by illegally painting the street in front of Trump Tower (where Trump has not been in years) was fine.  That was followed, though, by other New Yorkers who came and put different paint on the same patch of Fifth Avenue where the mayor's mural had been painted.  DeBlasio was outraged.  How dare they deface his mural.  People who put paint on the mural were actually arrested.  DeBlasio, you see, felt entitled to make his "statement", but others were not so entitled.

We need to get away from entitlement.