Entitlement
Perhaps entitlement doesn’t begin with believing we deserve more.
Perhaps it begins much earlier.
The moment we expect another human being to become the person we’ve imagined.
Without realizing it, we create expectations.
We expect them to understand us.
To comfort us.
To agree with us.
To complete us.
To become who we believe they should be.
Then something subtle happens.
Our expectations slowly become obligations.
When they choose differently…
When they grow differently…
When they reveal themselves instead of our imagination…
We call it disappointment.
Sometimes even betrayal.
But was it truly betrayal…
Or was it the collapse of an expectation that never belonged to them in the first place?
Every human being has the right to exist beyond our projections.
To think differently.
To feel differently.
To walk a path we would never choose.
Perhaps selfishness is not merely thinking of ourselves.
Perhaps it begins when another person’s reality becomes smaller than our own.
Perhaps thoughtlessness is not always intentional.
Perhaps it is simply failing to pause long enough to ask,
“What is it like to stand where they stand?”
Real understanding asks something difficult of us.
It asks us to lay down our expectations long enough to encounter another person as they truly are.
Maybe wisdom isn’t found in changing another human being.
Maybe wisdom begins the moment we stop expecting them to become a reflection of ourselves.
One Light Amongst Many
