Yesterday was Easter and it was a glorious day. I love Easter. It is my favorite holiday partly because it means so much (Jesus' death and resurrection is the rock of the Christian faith and is how we can know God!) and partly because the traditions I've been discovering around it (lent fasting, the Pasca (Orthodox Christian) late night celebration) and probably also that is not so commericialized and happens right around the budding of trees and flowers. I took dozens of photos yesterday of our lively church brunch and family get-togethers which I'll try to put up a few of on here in time. For now, I want to turn my thoughts to something I've been pondering most of the day.
As you may know I substitute teach in the Minneapolis Public School Distrist. Today I returned after a week and a day of spring break. I ended up in a special education class in North Minneapolis. There were two black women there who were supposed to be assisting me but they did little. Not that it mattered too much, the children were very focused and I was actually very impressed by them. However, it disturbed me how lazy these women felt they could be. Not only did I have to go over to them and introduce myself when I came in and ask for guidance in the schedule of the day but one woman had the audacity to take a nap while she was sitting in the back of the room and they both were on their cell phones texting or using the internet frequently instead of engaging the students. These women were probably somewhere in their late twenties to forties (one older, one younger) but they just emanated this sense of entitlement. Anyhow, it made me wonder why and where the black culture generally gets this attitude. I know it is not just black people and I am aware that this is a generalization. Entitlement itself is an issue that pervades the whole culture of the United States of America but happens to particularly be insidious in the black culture. I found an article from a black website that gave me some insight:
http://www.blackinformant.com/
My purpose in writing about this is not to judge or continue propagating stereotypes but it is to thoughtfully consider how the black culture in American and the wider culture in general has become so plagued by "entitlement issues." I know I am not safe from having this attitude at times. In fact I can pinpoint specific foolish actions I've made in my life that were more based on my attitude of "deserving something" than wisdom. Entitlement masquerades itself as individuality often. I'd like to start a dialogue about this because it's something that hurts me to see it's effects (like the negative aspects of the black culture) and honestly, I have a lot to learn about dealing with when I see it in other people (or myself).
It's interesting to realize that the Bible condemns those who "puff themselves up" but calls the ones who "come as children." At it's root I think that is the evil of the entitlement attitude. We are precious and made in the image of God. We are of amazing value to His Kingdom yet we are sinful and the consequence of sin is death. We are deserving of death (not the Kingdom) but God gives us the Kingdom. The only way to enter the second though is to realize the first.
Please share any thoughts about ways we can combat the entitlement attitude in our culture (or other cultures, such as the general black culture of America), churches, homes, schools, and in ourselves. I genuinely would like to have a thoughtful dialogue about this.
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