Our society has become too passive today. Challenges and adversity in life are real, but there are far too few people facing them with courage and grit, and too many responding with complaints and blame. The competitive and survivor mindset, so essential for both personal fulfillment and the health of our society, has become a rare commodity.
Sadly, the victimhood mentality is being normalized not only in public discourse but also within our homes. This mindset breeds passivity, fuels resentment, and sidelines personal responsibility. It erodes the spirit of inner strength and personal responsibility, replacing it by a culture of entitlement that seeks comfort without contribution and privilege without perseverance. The result is plain to see, from rising youth disengagement to the widespread corruption and dependency mindset plaguing our systems.
Many well-meaning parents, in their sincere desire to spare their children hardship, end up raising them with a freeloader’s mindset. They mistake indulgence for love and dependency for care. But true love equips children with tools to face life, not excuses to escape it.
Entitlement is another problem. It waits for others to act, expects results without effort, and resents success in others. A generation raised to believe society owes them a living will only drain that society of its integrity. As economist Thomas Sowell warned, “When people get used to preferential treatment, equal treatment seems like discrimination.”
To counter this trend, parents and schools must refocus on merit, discipline, and hard work. Youth must be taught that failure is not fatal, that losing is part of learning, and that discomfort is not something to be avoided but something to grow through. Society must stop rewarding mediocrity and start cultivating excellence.
Above all, we must restore dignity in work. Any work. Whether in farming, business, music, sports or academics, effort must be respected above status. Children must learn that the world owes them nothing, but they owe the world their best.
The future belongs not to the entitled but to the equipped; not freeloaders but doers; not beggars but builders. And this future begins at home, with parents who love their children enough to raise them right, who care enough to say no, and who believe enough to let them struggle, fall, and rise stronger.
