Posted by Michael DeNobile in I come from a fourth and fifth generation Italian immigrant family. Both of my parents grew up in the projects of the South Bronx during the late 1950s, early 60s from blue-collar families that earned the privilege of living in private housing in the northern Bronx in the mid to late 1960s and early 70s. Growing up, I watched my dad work four jobs, albeit as an accountant, because my mom was diabetic (we were a one-income household), so that our family could earn the privilege of moving out of the Bronx and into a smaller town outside of the city.
If there was one thing my family taught me, it’s that while freedom is a right; it’s a right that’s earned through the sweat and tears of patient, hard work and responsibility, not handed out on a silver platter and fed with a silver spoon. To be independent never meant getting a hand out but standing up on your own two feet, understanding that if or when you fell, your family was going to be there to support you.
I take this philosophy with me as a young teacher in the Bronx, but it’s hard to instill this into children who have already been indoctrinated by society to believe that the world owes them something, and because of that, the world better pay up sooner rather than later. And this is not to say that it’s all Bronx kids or that it’s just in the city. This self-centered view seems to be a disease that’s widespread in America today, even amongst adults.
When did America become the land of the me-me-me and the home of the brazen? When did it become un-American to oppose measures from the government, such as government-run health care, amnesty of illegal immigrants, etc., that would foster fiscal irresponsibility and the moral obligation to stand on one’s own two feet? Even if the government is seen as Big Brother, last time I checked, a big brother is meant to encourage the individual toward self-sufficient living, not to be living under mommy’s dress for the rest of one’s life.
I’m hoping that America will finally wake up and see that there are differences between rights and privileges, and even rights need to be earned. Rights (and therefore power) come with a cost and responsibility. As the old saying goes in business, nothing is ever free.
This article confuses me. With respect Michael, I think you have the two terms (right and privilege) backwards. A right is something that a person is given or granted. As an American citizen (upon being born in this country) I am given or granted certain rights. Such as the “protection from search and seizure”. I admit, that upon the founding of this country that others have fought to protect these rights, but that is a benefit now of living in this country today that is granted to me (and you). I do not have to re-earn my 4th amendment right. I do not have to take a test, meet some sort of personal standard or work hard to earn my 4th Amendment right.
On the other hand… a privilege is a certain type of right (by definition a “special right”) that is usually granted by earning it, or fulfilling a certain requirement. For example the privilege of driving a car… only after proper fees are paid, and tests are taken do I earn the privilege to drive. I don’t have a right to drive, but I’ve earned the privilege to drive.
Your overall point of having to work hard in order to gain privileges is a good a valid point, but I think you may have mixed up your terms.
I didn’t mix up the terms. I purposely used right and privilege above respectfully. I understand where you’re coming from, but that’s where today’s confusion is. Our rights are re-earned day after day–the rights that our founders fought for are guaranteed, yes, but at the price of our national defense, which re-earns those rights daily, so we don’t have to. The Patriot Act is a good example of why our rights may need to be re-earned as well. While our founders believed that our rights are inalienable because they came from God, we run the risk of handing over those God-given rights through apathy, getting too comfortable and believing that the government is going to do right by us all the time. Vigilance is a virtue (as long as it doesn’t become obsession). Every day Congress meets, a battle–a war if you will–occurs, and our freedoms may be eroded one minute or protected the next, whether it be a measure by Republicans or Democrats. We the People must be ever vigilant to ensure that our rights are protected. That’s how we re-earn them.
Basically, if rights were guaranteed, we wouldn’t need to fight for them. All of our inalienable rights come at a cost–we therefore earn them.
Thanks for your responses, I understand a little bit better what you mean. I still think there might be a difference between the word “earn” vs “protect” but perhaps it’s just semantics now.
I get what you’re saying. Sometimes words mean different things at different times, depending on their usage. Maybe “earn” wasn’t the best word to use, but the point is this: while our rights are inalienable, they are not necessarily guaranteed insofar as our rights can be violated (hence the necessity of a justice system). If terrorist groups win the war on terror, for example, we will no longer be free, as we know it. Freedom is only as free as the cost required permits it to be free. That “cost” is what I mean as it being an “earned” right.