What guides people to make certain choices over others? What makes someone apply for that one great job, while someone just as qualified shrinks away from it? What makes my co-workers park under the sun when there are lots of open spaces in the garage? What makes people not stand up for themselves and/or for what they believe?

Truly, the answer is simple: entitlement. Those who feel entitled seek those things they believe they are entitled to have. Those who believe themselves entitled challenge those who tell them that they are not. Those who are entitled are those who make themselves so. It is really quite simple.

You life is what you make it; it is true. But it’s not just what you make it, but also how you make it. The extent to which you can change your life is highly determined by what you believe. And what you believe makes all the difference.

Creer es poder, my grandma always said. In English it would translate into several things, since it’s not afforded the puns contained in Spanish. In English, it would be “Believing is Power”; and “To believe is to be able to do.” In short: if you believe it, it is possible. If you believe you are entitled, you are. If you believe that you can change things, you can; and, if you so choose, you will.

Well, everyone is entitled to somethings. We know, because in the United States we are the most entitled people in the world. Then why is it that most Americans do not think they are entitled. I don’t know the answer.

But, I do believe that it has something to do with the social education that has been passed down since the beginnings of Western civilization: the idea that some are more entitled than others, for one or another reason; that everyone has a place in society and mobility is next to impossible. Some of us know as a fact that that is not true; it has never been, and it’s unlikely to become the rule now.

No matter what we do or think, there is not empowerment without a feeling of entitlement, and all the so-called movements to empower one or another group will continue to be in vain until everyone within each of those groups believes him/herself to be entitled. Unions is the only successful such groups I can identify as empowered; and it works for them because they know they are entitled.

Knowledge is power, haven’t you heard? Must be why most American don’t realize that they too are entitled. Maybe knowledge is not cultivated enough, or given it’s rightful place, around here. Maybe more people should, but that’s not enough. Entitlement is something that comes from within, knowledge alone will not deliver it.

Well, I have come to more conclusions on this subject than I would be able to type in here at one time. So, ponder upon these ideas and come up with your own. I am only glad that not everyone at work feels entitled to park in the garage, because I do. At the same time, I feel sorry for those around me who allow others to walk all over them because the fact that they do not feel entitled makes them afraid.

Feeling entitled is your duty to yourself, find it.