entitlement and misery
I was reading a bit of C.S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters last night and came across something that really struck me. He wrote, "Men are not angered by mere misfortunes but by misfortune conceived as injury. And the sense of injury depends on the feeling that a legitimate claim has been denied." This is so true. I think that we all have a remarkable ability to survive hardship when it comes down to it. We can get through pretty much anything, and the only time when it gets bad is when we allow ourselves to feel a sense of entitlement and think that we're not getting what we're supposed to get. It's so easy to think that you deserve something better than you receive, and to blaim other people when your life doesn't meet your own expectations. Sometimes things just happen and that's ok and you'll always get through it. For a better explanation, look at the first chapter of Job (especially verses 21 and 22). That should be required weekly reading if you ask me (or at least i should read it every week, because i tend to forget it)
posted by james at Wednesday, October 11, 2006
3 Comments:
that is really true.
I loved Screwtaped Letters.
This may be my favorite quote , though. Tons more are here http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/C.S._Lewis
Remember last year when we analyzed happiness was largely determined by how one perceives his own place in relationship to his peers? The problem is of course that one's peers change as his position changes.
So never whine to me that you're on the bottom of your class at Columbia you poor soul!
carl, yeah, i think we were on to something. that really is how we tend to think. and because of that i'm pretty sure that i 'm way to prideful to let myself be in the bottom half of my class. but you're right, that wouldn't be so bad and it's better to keep my head about that stuff.
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