Get Over Yourself

The American Partisan

TAP CLASSIC!!

Get Over Yourself
by Lisa Woerly

Some very vocal Americans place an extremely biased and misdefined emphasis on The Bill of Rights. Similar to what we have done to the Bible over the centuries, the American Constitution's first 10 amendments (which are commonly referred to as the Bill of Rights) are open for interpretation by every simple-minded baboon who made it past the sixth grade. Naturally, those interpretations are almost always off-base, misguided, and intentionally self-serving.

People think they have the right to acquire anything or to do anything they want in this world. They want everything handed to them on a silver platter. It does not work that way. In fact, there are many things you do not have the right to possess or the right to do.

You do not have the right to a Beaver Cleaver childhood. No one deserves to go hungry or to be abused as a child, but it happens. It's how you react to and overcome your childhood situation that matters. Wallowing in self-pity because you were hit as a child only proves that you do not have what it takes to survive this world. There is nothing that gives me more faith in humanity than hearing someone recount a horrific childhood of abuse and how that person had the personal mettle to escape that lifestyle and make a success out of him/herself. My heartfelt sorrow goes out to children who are currently in bad circumstances, but all I feel is disgust when an adult is still living in the abusive past and wallows in it.

You do not have the right to a six-figure income. Like the cliché goes, money doesn't grow on trees. If making a lot of money is important to you, you'd better acquire the education and skills to get you there. Do not think that you deserve $75,000 straight out of college. Prove your merit first. Work your way up from the trenches like every great American financial success story has done for the last two hundred years.

You do not have the right to expect the rest of us to carry you through life. Earn your own keep. Welfare is an aid to help people create better lives for themselves; it is not a way of life. Do not panhandle for money in order to support your heroin habit (believe it or not, this is a growing problem in Lincoln, Nebraska). I know people who have never worked a day in their lives and have mooched off of the system for all these years. The general mindset seems to be--The programs are there so I might as well take advantage of them. This is wrong. Struggle through life's trials and tribulations on your own.

You do not have the right to blame others for your problems. Stand up and take responsibility for your actions (or lack thereof). Do not blame others for your lack of job skills; do not blame others for your lack of a happy life. Do not bemoan your lack of a higher education because you grew up in the inner city. Do not bemoan how your father's coldness towards you as a child forced you to turn to the bottle and become an alcoholic. Do not complain that you are in an abusive relationship and then refuse to take any positive steps to change your circumstances. Stand up for yourself and do something about the troubles in your life.

You do not have the right to do whatever you want to do. America was founded on the concept of freedom, but that was freedom from the confines of a monarchy. You do not have the freedom to act upon whatever crosses your mind. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we all answer to someone. You cannot do anything you want to do without the potential for repercussion. Each and every American must have a sense of culpability for their words and actions.

You do not have the right to happiness. You may pursue happiness, and best wishes in your successful pursuit, but you have no guarantee of achieving it. This country, in fact this world we inhabit, owes you nothing. Not happiness, not self-esteem, not love. You are on your own, my friend. Create your own positive, fulfilling, and happy life because no one else will do it for you.

You do not have the right to life. There are no guarantees that the molecular structure that constitutes you will inhabit this earth. There are no guarantees that you will not be struck down by a Chevy or succumb to cancer "before your time." In fact, the only guarantee is that you will die one day. Life is a privilege--treat it as such. It will be taken away from you in the blink of an eye, so treat every day as a wondrous miracle that you made it here at all.

So get over yourself. ***

Photo of Lisa Woerly courtesy of staff files