You forgot to say "Or so I've heard." LOL. On a related note: I had a friend who worked for an international aid agency. He would go overseas to impoverished areas and teach basic agriculture and farming techniques. He said that when he was teaching animal husbandry and the need to ensure a reasonably deep gene pool, there were sometimes awkward looks on the faces of his students.
So back on topic: I feel as though I've paid for my Social Security and Medicaid. Other than that, I feel I shall always have a duty to help others as much as I am able in whatever way I can. I don't think I am "owed anything" for having liked this long. I sometimes take advantage of "Senior Discounts" for stuff, but often I pass. But that's more a business decision on the part of the retailer to get me to do commerce at the given establishment than it is an entitlement. There are some Medicare commercials playing now where the actors talk about "getting all that I am entitled to." I actually hate that word. It sounds greedy and narcissistic.
Or Mike Ditka, or Bill "Here's your sign" Engvall. I watch all antenna TV. I guess most of the viewers are in my demographic, 'cause all I see are these friggin' commercials selling benefits that are not available in my market, or that are really Medicaid plans.
And, like any other commercial for anything, have to read that fine print at the bottom........if there is any. Some how, some way, "getting all of the things you may be entitled to", will cost somewhere. As far as helping others go, as what John states, our belief is..........."can't help others if you physically and/or financially can't do it." Wife and I take care of each other and that's pretty much all we can handle.
It makes me sad every time I see that ad. The Great Joe Namath so broke that he has to stoop to that level.
That's where I, too, find a little compassion. All I can think when I see celebrities doing that stuff is "Must be having a hard time paying his rent." That's generally me feeling regarding telemarketers. Life must really suck...
Well, there is that. I think Bill Engvall and Tom Selleck should be doing well enough to not be hawking stuff to geezers.
In a way, I kind of get what @Cody Fousnaugh is writing. Yes, there was a time when children were told to “respect” their elders and in some sense that has equated to something that a senior is entitled to. I think that in most ways I can come up with that our predecessors did indeed earn and were indeed, as a generation, entitled to a measure of respect. But, what is it that our generation, the baby boomers, have done to earn any kind of credit by which we can say that our generation is honorable therefore demands some sort of honor? We are the “feel good” generation whereby everything was and is permissible and that’s what our generation has taught the next. The faith that our elders tried to instill in us was lost on us for we bypassed faith for whatever is was that exited us the most. No one taught premarital sex better than us, no one taught drug use better than us, no one taught single parent families better than us and certainly our generation has taught this generation that government should take the place of good parents. This generation has learned how to have money without having to work for it, this generation has learned that good attendance is superior to good grades or the will to win. So now the baby boomers, our generation wants respect because we are entitled to it, For what? If we didn’t earn honor and teach honor whilst our young were still capable of absorbing what could have been a good thing then, how then do we expect it now? If we would have been of good character we would have taught it and they, the young, would have learned it.......and earned it in kind. Personally, I’m not entitled to anything sans what I have earned. Singularly, maybe I have earned some respect from some of the younger folks I know but as part of a generation that taught so little good to so many of our youth, rather than entitled honor, I wouldn’t blame them if they fully turned on us.