It's Not About You

I read this article, It's Not About You, on the New York Times website today. Sounds a bit familiar. Didn't Jesus say in the Bible that one must lose one's life to save it?

The biggest shock of being an adult is realizing you don't get to have the life you planned; you get the life you've been given. No one expects a parent to be diagnosed with a terminal illness. No one expects to have to quit school to help take care of younger family members. No one plans to have a parent die when they're 25. No one can tell you what job offer to take. And no matter how many classes you take in college, no one can teach you how to endure the trials in life with grace, dignity, and humility. Our lives are a culmination of our experiences and our ability to learn from those experiences shapes our characters.

Being an adult means you have to plan for the un-plan-able and expect the unexpected. You have to work with other people and learn how to put their needs ahead of yours. There is a weird generation gap in American culture. Manners and etiquette have been replaced by selfishness and a belief that there are no consequences for one's actions. Too many people believe that they have a right to do as they please, regardless of how it might affect others. We have forgotten the idealism of Camelot before the treachery and replaced it with Entitlement.

To paraphrase John F. Kennedy:

"Ask not what [others] can do for you; ask what you can do for [others]."