I woke up this morning, as I generally do, to the Today programme on BBC Radio 4. I continued listening for a little longer than I often do and happened to catch ‘Thought for the Day’ just before eight o’clock. Today’s ‘thought’ was offered by John Bell of the Iona Community, who had chosen speak on the ‘culture of entitlement’. I won’t repeat his observations and conclusions here, but I will follow his lead by offering a few observations of my own (while, hopefully, also following John Bell’s example of not being too preachy).
‘Culture of entitlement’ refers to the supposed expectation on the part of individuals and society that we all have a right to certain things, such as employment, food and shelter, health care, etc. But the ‘culture of entitlement’ notion can be extended to the (suggested) belief of children that they have a right to the latest games console or designer trainers. At Christmas, and given the current economic climate, this can be a real problem for struggling parents faced with their children’s demands.
But what should children be entitled to? What should any of us be entitled to? Although this isn’t really the same thing as entitlement, we do all have needs. In the 1940s, the psychologist Abraham Maslow proposed a ‘hierarchy of needs’, i.e. a list of things we each need in order to function properly. Our most basic needs (such as the requirement for survival) form the foundation of the hierarchy, with other needs (such as the requirements for security, health, intimacy, etc.) built on top.
A similar idea to this hierarchy can be found the current Human Givens approach to psychotherapy developed by Joe Griffin and Ivan Tyrrell. This approach assumes that there are particular ‘givens’ (resources) we need in order to live successful and fulfilled lives. There are several of these ‘givens’, and they include the obvious things like food, water and shelter, but they also include:
- having some control over our lives
- having emotional connection to others
- having a sense of competence/achievement
- having a sense of meaning/purpose
Many of us, at some time or another, are denied certain of these ‘givens’. Many of my posts have referred to the situation of a child caught up in residential psychiatric care. In such circumstances a child will be (at least partly) denied many of the needs suggested by these ‘givens’. While it may be perfectly justifiable – indeed, quite proper – to say that a child is not entitled to the latest games console, can we really say the same about the ‘givens’ of human existence?
There will, inevitably, be children who are at this moment facing the prospect of spending Christmas in institutional care. Far fewer of them will be psychiatric patients than was once the case, but some will be. And there will be others who are detained for other reasons, whether as a result of their own fault or that of others.
And so I would like to suggest we consider carefully what our entitlements are (as compared to our wishes or desires) while also remembering the entitlements of others, especially troubled children. Whether you are about to celebrate Christmas (25 December or 6 January) or Winter Solstice (21 December), or whether you have just celebrated Hanukkah (2-9 December, this year) – or if you have some other December/January festival that is special to you – please also celebrate young life, all life, and respect (in your own way) the ‘givens’ of that life.
May I wish you all the best for this season and for the coming year.
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Delivered Unto Lions by David Austin is published by CheckPoint Press.
For more information visit www.davidaustin.eu
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