Picture the climactic courtroom scene from ‘A Few Good Men’. Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee engages with Colonel Nathan Jessup, asking if he ordered the code red.  

Kaffee: Colonel Jessup! Did you order the Code Red?!

Judge Randolph: You don’t have to answer that question!

Jessup: I’ll answer the question. You want answers?

Kaffee: I think I’m entitled to it!

Jessup: You want answers?!

Kaffee: I want the truth!!

Jessup: You can’t handle the truth! Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who’s gonna do it? You? You, Lieutenant Weinberg? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago and you curse the Marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know: that Santiago’s death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives! You don’t want the truth, because deep down in places you don’t talk about at parties, you want me on that wall. You need me on that wall. We use words like “honor”, “code”, “loyalty”. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it! I would rather you just said “thank you”, and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon, and stand a post. Either way, I don’t give a damn what you think you are entitled to! (emphasis added)

Entitlement is defined in part as the fact of having a right to something, or the belief that one is inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment. Similar words like prerogative, license, and special favor come to mind.

I’ve wrestled with how to present this without being overly critical or getting personal. Mostly because not all people who exhibit entitlement tendencies do so with ill-intent. I think a number appear that way because they are under heavy deadline or otherwise pressured to produce results quickly, leading to the intentional (and perhaps inappropriate) leveraging of personal relationships that usurp standard protocols. It’s not always because they feel ‘inherently deserving’ of special treatment…not everyone who presents as a jerk necessarily is (although we both know many are).

A couple of verses came to mind as I thought through all this: The way of a fool is right in his own eyes. (Proverbs 12.15) and For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. (Galatians 6.3).

I don’t exactly know what would prompt someone from one organization to call the CEO of a different company on a weekend morning asking help with a special accommodation, knowing full-well it would lead to someone much farther down the food chain jumping through hoops the rest of weekend to make it happen.

More insidious examples point to offenders who commit acts of sexual violence against victims simply because they feel entitled; or people who commit fraud because they feel insurance companies overcharge; or insurance companies charging too much because…well, because they can.

Is it entitlement? Selfishness? Lack of humility? Neither? Something else?

I wrote in a previous article about ego and wakes of destruction left behind those who lack leadership acumen, emotional intelligence, or even basic empathy. Instead of boring you with more of the same, I’ll wrap up with few thoughts on humility versus entitlement.

In his book The Ideal Team Player, Patrick Lencioni writes of humility as lacking “…excessive ego or concerns about status.” He says “humility is the single greatest and most indispensable attribute of being a team player.” I’m not suggesting that entitlement is the opposite of humility, but it’s pretty easy to spot someone who thinks they’re all that. Many of them are the same people who feel entitled to special favor because of their position, who they know, or because they’re a little too big for their britches, as my grandma would say.

Big britches or not, here’s what I think I’m entitled to:

NOTHING.

Maybe that’s a little harsh (true or not).

I am entitled to:

1. An honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work
2. Protections outlined in the Constitution of the United States
3. To be a good human being

Unfortunately, we are also entitled to be rotten human beings.

My hope is that the love of God and those of us who strive to be good human beings will continue to shine light into this dark world and overshadow the rottenness.

You’re also entitled to Get Strong, Be Strong, and Stay Strong.

A Few Good Men quotation retrieved 7/31/2019 from https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A_Few_Good_Men 

Lencioni, Patrick. (2016). The ideal team player. Hoboken, NJ: Jossey-Bass.