We were driving back from Delaware this weekend and stopped at a Roadhouse on the way home for dinner. It was a Saturday night, at dinner time, so naturally they were a bit busy and there was a small wait until we could be seated.
The inside of the restaurant was a little congested so we opted to wait outside until our number was called.
We found a nice bench across from one other couple and proceeded to wait patiently for the ten minutes we were told it would take to get a table.
We sat and waited, and the kids played and talked and climbed a rock pillar supporting an overhang outside the building, and played in the stones. We passed the time, in what I found to be a very eye opening ten minutes of cultural observation.
In and out the doors people would go to put their names on the list and then come outside to wait. Except, as soon as they stepped outside, each and
every person proceeded to complain loudly about how hot and sunny it was, and "why isn't there any shade?!" "The restaurant needs to provide shade!" "Where are we suppose to sit?!" "It's too sunny out here, I can't believe there is no shade!"
They would all grumble, loudly, in our direction and the couple across from us (who was actually sitting in the only sliver of shade) would offer their obligatory complaints in support of the other person's comments and then the disgruntled patrons would stomp back inside and find a spot, somewhere, squeezed in between all the other disgruntled patrons who also refused to wait in the sun.
I found these interactions both amusing, and deeply concerning.
How is it that, people living in the United States have become so entitled as so demand shade?
Shade?
I was truly flabbergasted. I mean, speechless, as I watched person after person come outside, make the same remarks, and then storm back inside, irritated and "put off" because there was no shade for them to wait under for a lousy ten minutes.
That is truly sad. The heart condition of this country. That people think they can #1-demand
shade from a restaurant, and #2, let a lack of shade be a source of
complaints, and #3, allow it to determine their
attitude.
Not to toot our own horn (but hey-
TOOT. freakin'. TOOT), the only people who
weren't complaining and scoffing at the injustice of this no shade outrage while outside sitting in the sun...my family.
Why? Living outside the United States for a few years and getting a healthy dose of perspective on what actually constitutes a "problem" as opposed to the inconveniences we
mistake for problems will do that to a person I guess.
Also, because having to sit outside in the sun for ten minutes should not cause anyone to become disgruntled. Because having shade to sit in is not some guarantee that you can expect to have just because you are you and you think that in your youness you are entitled to demand that a restaurant provide you with shade so as to not restrict you from reaching your highest measure of comfort.
Newsflash my fellow Americans....the world does not revolve around your comfort nor is the world your oyster.
Get over yourselves.
What in the world is this attitude so many have adopted here?
This attitude is despicable. Utterly shameful. And
embarrassing. To see just how deep this attitude of entitlement runs here. To complain about shade. To be
unhappy about a lack of
shade for ten minutes.....
I was talking to a Nigerian man from Home Depot a couple weeks ago. This particular man was in our home giving us a quote on new windows and after we were done with the window business, I couldn't help myself and started talking to him about Africa, Nigeria, his homeland, our lives on the continent, his life now. We stood in my living room for a while sharing stories and talking and laughing and comparing cultures. And he said something truly profound to me. Words from a man, like me, who has seen the absolute desperateness in life, and seen the bounty, and lives with both realities in his heart....
"it is easier to manage poverty, than it is to manage a persons happiness."
He hit the nail on the head with that one. Such wise words. Such deep truth right there.
Coming home after living in Burkina Faso has been hard. After experiencing all that we did, we have been left changed. Our perspective on life has shifted. And returning to the United States and seeing the level of ingratitude and entitlement that is brewing in the hearts of so many here is grievous. In order to tame the beast that is this country's never ending pursuit for personal happiness, complaining must be cast off and this attitude of entitlement and discontent in anything less that ideal must not be allowed to fester.
My heart is being stirred with new conviction over this country. With the quest for personal happiness at the forefront of our goals, we will surely experience more desperation than those who live with next to nothing and can still wake up and find reason to smile.
