Mine
I recently watched on Netflix both Thirteen Reasons Why* and The Crown at about the same time, and then The Book of Negroes on CBC shortly thereafter. And, as I watched them, it occurred to me that a common underlying cause of evil is a sense of entitlement. In these shows, it was a sense of entitlement over land (e.g., the Suez Canal), or over people's bodies, especially women's, or over jobs and food that stood out to me.
Where does this sense of entitlement come from?
This sense of entitlement clearly starts young. My thirteen-month-old niece only knows a handful of words, but one of them is my, and usually she says it with a screech, while pulling away some object that someone has reached for. These days, usually she is right when she yells my, but only by chance, and because her little sister hasn't been born yet.
When Europeans sailed out over the ocean, and found land that was already occupied, what made them think they could claim it as their own? And why did they continue to insist it was theirs, when those who lived there fought back? I think of the American Revolution, of the two sides fighting to claim land as their own, both sides ignoring those who had the truest claim; both sides so occupied by defending their minor grievances, that they were blind to the pain and destruction they perpetuated on others. All men are born equal, they declared, and still they owned slaves.
I saw how people grabbed and evaluated and leered at women's bodies. I saw how angry they got when the woman said no. No! Had no one told them no before? How that made them angry, and they grabbed for more. You must conform to my will, you must be under my control. And when the woman fought back and refused, they took it anyhow, and destroyed her.
When the freed black men got the jobs because they worked for barely nothing, and the white men complained, they stole our jobs! This cry still echoes today. But in what sense was it your job, when you were never hired for it? And if these men are willing to work for so much less than you, did you ever consider why they are so much more desperate?
But no, when they come begging for food, you require them to sign their lives away as indentured servants and be forever grateful, or you hang them for stealing a potato. And when they cried out for help, you punished them, you burned their homes, you murdered them for making you look bad. Maybe if you don't want to look bad, you should stop being so cruel.
Another movie I recently watched was The Martian. After it was over, I asked, is it really realistic that they would spend billions and billions of dollars on a long shot manoeuvre to save one man? Why is one man on Mars, who volunteered to go on this dangerous mission, knowing all that it entailed, worth so much more than a Rohingya infant languishing in a refugee camp, who could be saved for a fraction of the cost?
They cannot come here, you say, we don't have enough space, enough resources.
Do you not live in one of the largest countries on earth, one of the countries richest with natural resources? Are you cold right now, or are you warm in a house with a roaring furnace and high quality double windows? Are you hungry, or is your fridge full of food that you bought in bulk with your Costco membership? Are you one of the over 70 homeless people who died in Toronto in 2017?
The Bible teaches that everything we have is a gift from God. It is not really ours, we are just the caretakers or the stewards.
When I was a child, getting a Christmas gift for my parents usually only meant that I picked it out. Who paid for it? My parents, of course. They probably would have been better off if they had just picked out what they actually wanted and left me out of the equation. But they didn't do that, because they wanted to include me fully (or as fully as was age-appropriate) in the exchange of gifts. I was so proud when I was finally able to buy my parents a present with money that I had earned myself.
When King David set aside money and treasure to build a temple for God, he felt much the same way: “But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand. [...] Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a temple for your Holy Name comes from your hand, and all of it belongs to you." (1 Chronicles 29: 14, 16)
In one story, a rich man named Job hears that, in a series of unfortunate events, his family and all of his possessions are taken away from him. His response?
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked I will depart.
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
may the name of the Lord be praised.” (Job 1: 21)
When my parents gave me money to buy them a Christmas present, it would have been wrong of me to pocket it, or to buy something for myself. In the same way, it would be wrong for me to take God's gifts and not use them to glorify God.
Jesus tells a parable about a man who gives some of his servants some money before he goes on a journey. Two of the servants invest that money, but one is scared of losing it, and buries the money. When the man returns, the two servants who invest the money are richly rewarded, but the one who buried it is punished. (Read the full story here.)
I have recently been reflecting that a sense of entitlement does not have to be only about physical possessions. It can be about basically anything--love, freedom, salvation. We should hold all of these things loosely. Not loosely in the sense that we should just throw them away, but we should take what we are given and invest them to make them something better. For example, because I am loved by God, I should pass on His love to those around me.
And when there are those in need, my response should not be mine! or me first! It should be, how can I help?
In Corrie ten Boom's autobiography, she writes about how her mother never turned anyone away who came asking for food. She just added more water to the soup. Sure, watery soup is not the best, but at least then, there's enough soup to go around.
It's not like it was even your soup to begin with.
*Thirteen Reasons Why is pretty messed up. It was an engaging story, but I highly recommend that anyone struggling with mental illness and especially teenagers consider carefully before watching it.
Where does this sense of entitlement come from?
This sense of entitlement clearly starts young. My thirteen-month-old niece only knows a handful of words, but one of them is my, and usually she says it with a screech, while pulling away some object that someone has reached for. These days, usually she is right when she yells my, but only by chance, and because her little sister hasn't been born yet.
When Europeans sailed out over the ocean, and found land that was already occupied, what made them think they could claim it as their own? And why did they continue to insist it was theirs, when those who lived there fought back? I think of the American Revolution, of the two sides fighting to claim land as their own, both sides ignoring those who had the truest claim; both sides so occupied by defending their minor grievances, that they were blind to the pain and destruction they perpetuated on others. All men are born equal, they declared, and still they owned slaves.
I saw how people grabbed and evaluated and leered at women's bodies. I saw how angry they got when the woman said no. No! Had no one told them no before? How that made them angry, and they grabbed for more. You must conform to my will, you must be under my control. And when the woman fought back and refused, they took it anyhow, and destroyed her.
When the freed black men got the jobs because they worked for barely nothing, and the white men complained, they stole our jobs! This cry still echoes today. But in what sense was it your job, when you were never hired for it? And if these men are willing to work for so much less than you, did you ever consider why they are so much more desperate?
But no, when they come begging for food, you require them to sign their lives away as indentured servants and be forever grateful, or you hang them for stealing a potato. And when they cried out for help, you punished them, you burned their homes, you murdered them for making you look bad. Maybe if you don't want to look bad, you should stop being so cruel.
Another movie I recently watched was The Martian. After it was over, I asked, is it really realistic that they would spend billions and billions of dollars on a long shot manoeuvre to save one man? Why is one man on Mars, who volunteered to go on this dangerous mission, knowing all that it entailed, worth so much more than a Rohingya infant languishing in a refugee camp, who could be saved for a fraction of the cost?
They cannot come here, you say, we don't have enough space, enough resources.
Do you not live in one of the largest countries on earth, one of the countries richest with natural resources? Are you cold right now, or are you warm in a house with a roaring furnace and high quality double windows? Are you hungry, or is your fridge full of food that you bought in bulk with your Costco membership? Are you one of the over 70 homeless people who died in Toronto in 2017?
The Bible teaches that everything we have is a gift from God. It is not really ours, we are just the caretakers or the stewards.
When I was a child, getting a Christmas gift for my parents usually only meant that I picked it out. Who paid for it? My parents, of course. They probably would have been better off if they had just picked out what they actually wanted and left me out of the equation. But they didn't do that, because they wanted to include me fully (or as fully as was age-appropriate) in the exchange of gifts. I was so proud when I was finally able to buy my parents a present with money that I had earned myself.
When King David set aside money and treasure to build a temple for God, he felt much the same way: “But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand. [...] Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a temple for your Holy Name comes from your hand, and all of it belongs to you." (1 Chronicles 29: 14, 16)
In one story, a rich man named Job hears that, in a series of unfortunate events, his family and all of his possessions are taken away from him. His response?
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked I will depart.
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
may the name of the Lord be praised.” (Job 1: 21)
When my parents gave me money to buy them a Christmas present, it would have been wrong of me to pocket it, or to buy something for myself. In the same way, it would be wrong for me to take God's gifts and not use them to glorify God.
Jesus tells a parable about a man who gives some of his servants some money before he goes on a journey. Two of the servants invest that money, but one is scared of losing it, and buries the money. When the man returns, the two servants who invest the money are richly rewarded, but the one who buried it is punished. (Read the full story here.)
I have recently been reflecting that a sense of entitlement does not have to be only about physical possessions. It can be about basically anything--love, freedom, salvation. We should hold all of these things loosely. Not loosely in the sense that we should just throw them away, but we should take what we are given and invest them to make them something better. For example, because I am loved by God, I should pass on His love to those around me.
And when there are those in need, my response should not be mine! or me first! It should be, how can I help?
In Corrie ten Boom's autobiography, she writes about how her mother never turned anyone away who came asking for food. She just added more water to the soup. Sure, watery soup is not the best, but at least then, there's enough soup to go around.
It's not like it was even your soup to begin with.
*Thirteen Reasons Why is pretty messed up. It was an engaging story, but I highly recommend that anyone struggling with mental illness and especially teenagers consider carefully before watching it.
Comments
Post a Comment