Entitlement Syndrome

Last night's quick trip to pick up a few items on my way home from work felt like an exercise in futility.

I walked into the store and immediately found myself in the Easter candy aisles. It took but a few minutes and I found the discount mini Easter eggs I have come to enjoy, then went directly to where my official list item numbers one, two and three were located.

Item #1 was too expensive, had too many choices, then when tried to narrow down my selection I discovered I didn't want what they had. I walked away with my cart carrying only my Easter candy.

Item #2 was no where to be found. Only my Easter candy remained.

Item #3 could only be bought within a set of other items I didn't need or want to purchase. This could prove to be a very cheap trip.

Item #4 was not available in the size I was looking for but I found the silver lining when I reminded myself of the savings in buying in bulk. Cat litter never goes to waste in our home but I haven't been buying the 50 lb size lately. It is simply too heavy.

I lugged the 50 pounds worth of cat litter into my almost empty cart and continued on my merry way.

As I walked up and down the food aisles, I was dismayed at the number of times I went to look for a specific item on the shelves and came up empty handed.

To add to my frustration, the store has done a major reshuffling of their groceries and I was having a heck of a time finding half the items left on my list.

As I checked out my cart (now filled with groceries I may or may not have really needed), it felt like this should be a cheap shopping expedition considering all the things I couldn't find. It wasn't.

I'm not a big fan of grocery shopping to begin with. Tack it onto the end of a long day and make it even longer by having to put away groceries and I was just a little testy.

I sat down at 8:30 and officially called it a day.

I woke up this morning with an "entitlement" hangover. We live in a country where we expect to find our grocery shelves fully stocked with an array of items so we can pick and choose according to our needs, wants and personal taste. More often than not, our stores do meet these standards. How dare I feel so entitled that I was a tad miffed that I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for? Shame on me.

I padded through my morning, turned on the kitchen faucet and marvelled over the fact we have clean, safe and readily available water "on tap".

I flushed the toilet and again appreciated the convenience of having the luxury of having not only enough water to take care of the job at hand, but a sewage system that is a basic part of our city's infrastructure.

I grabbed my back-up supply of frozen fruit I had on hand to make my morning smoothie. Food on hand, electrical appliances that are run by what feels like an endless source of power ...

I noticed yet another spectrum of light on the kitchen cabinets due to the angle of the back door and the way the sun was hitting the decorative light in the window. "Let there be light."

In the light of day, I simply felt grateful.

Grateful for the services that are not only provided as part of the convenience of where we live, but where our expectations are met and exceeded on a regular basis.

I saw the light. I felt ashamed of my petty grievances from last night. I thought I knew better. But I have been humbled. How dare I feel entitled to the privileged life I lead? I am suffering from a hangover of "Entitlement Syndrome". Today? I shall do better.