Unless you live under a rock, you know that Haiti suffered a deadly earthquake. Quickly came the aid and support to that small island as of course it was needed. There has been celebrity support in raising funds, awareness and I think its all great. I really feel for those that lost their family members and all of the homeless citizens of Haiti. I even sent in a donation via text.
This entire unfortunate situation has brought out many different opinions, some of which I’ll discuss here and how it relates to you, Real Estate investing and your business in general.
Recently, someone on Facebook made a comment on their wall that sparked some controversy. As you can see below from this screen shot, Carol Stinson had said:
Now, it would appear someone may be just a tad bitter wouldn’t you say? Regardless of whether you agree with her or not, she does have a point which leads to me to Entitlement.
Many Americans(and you’re probably one of them) feel they’re ‘entitled’ to something. Whether it be fame, fortune, security and I could go on and on. My initial emotion wasn’t anger that she said this, it was pity for her because I was guessing she has probably faced one or more of these things she mentioned. I also believed that she was bitter or angry because she had the false feeling of entitlement when one of these unfortunate things may have happened to her.
It seems as though she’s deleted the original comment which I was afraid of (I’ll get to that next) so I took that screen shot. I believed that she had mentioned that she had suffered a foreclosure or homelessness previously through one of her replies to the many many comments that this post of hers sparked.
Feeling a sense of entitlement will do nothing for you! This country was founded on many beliefs, one of them is the freedom to make your own decisions and have the abilities to create your own path and choose to be successful. I’m sure many of the Americans who are homeless and have recently faced a foreclosure are good people and have good intentions but I don’t believe they should rewarded. They still have the same amazing opportunities that everyone else has and that’s the beauty of it.
When Carol makes this statement, its obvious to me that someone still feels a sense of entitlement and that is a dangerous thing to do. To go through life expecting certain things without earning it the ‘ol fashioned way will only lead to many failures in your lifetime. If we allow ourselves to let the homeless and unfortunate souls of America receive benefits that other Americans have worked extremely hard for, what message is that sending those who are working hard to provide themselves with a brighter future? Why wouldn’t they just say F’ it and depend on everyone else and fall into the false sense of entitlement as well?
Call me a good ‘ol red blooded American but I believe in FREE Enterprise, not a hand out from ANYONE.
Now, onto the Sheep.
Carol received many many many comments. I actually learned of her comments through someone else on FB bitching about her and her comments saying ‘This Bi*** should go to jail for saying something like that‘ so of course, I had to see what the fuss was all about. The comments left were initially all rah-rah good for you Carol for saying what I wanted to say blah blah blah. Fine by me, people are allowed to voice their opinions right? Then, one single person challenged her in her comments and the entire commenting thread changed course like sheep be led by the Sheppard. Whatever happened to make her delete the entire thing, who knows? Maybe she’ll come on here and comment about the situation.
Following everyone else will only make you a sheep!
I’m going to use Carol once again as a reference but I’m sure you either will relate to this or know someone who does. She is also following the heard by jumping on the ‘Red Pill’ bandwagon. I’m not going to say whether this magic new software program is any good or not because I simply don’t know. What I do know is from this great post titled: Founder-Soft where you can get an idea of my view from it which is this product/service is being marketed to new investors who don’t have a clue to the FREE resources they have and think that by using a packaged system, they’re ‘Entitled’ to success.
Something tells me, Carol is one of those exact targets.
The sheep mentality comes into play here. If everyone you talk to, interact with and everyone you derive your own opinions from go from this amazing product or that newest thing since sliced bread but you still find yourself in the same if not worse position you were in 6 months, a year or 5 years ago, it might be time to stop following the heard of suckers who only end up being targets for easy money system sellers.
Learn who you are, what your strengths are, your weaknesses and what its going to take to get over that hump. Don’t deviate or allow someone elses opinion or their actions lead you wrong. If you’re not into Subject2, short sales and other creative investing styles and how to integrate social media into you business then you’re at the wrong place, close this window and never come back. Don’t be a sheep and allow me to herd you into a place you don’t ultimately want to go.
Also, don’t become one of those easy to sell to customers. You’ll fall for every little infomercial tactic and end up NOWHERE. Best case scenario is you’ll stay exactly where you are, chances are, you’ll continue to dig yourself a hole and your sense of entitlement will continue to grow.
Leave a comment below and tell me if you’ve ever felt entitled to something(be honest) and how are you going to keep yourself from becoming a sheep in 2010.
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Bravo Nick! This is one topic I could probably go on and on about. But I'll make it short.
First off, yes I have felt like I was entitled. It was back when I was a teenager either in high school or when I started college. I don't really remember what I entitled to, but it was probably along the lines of a better job, car, or some other crap that I thought was important at the time.
But now in my “wiser” years I don't feel entitled to anything. My childhood and life growing up was pretty humble and I've worked hard to get where I am today. I am working even harder to get to where I want to be. I only look to connect with and get advice from people that are more knowledgeable or experience that I do. I do not expect them to hand me the success I seek gift wrapped with a pretty pink ribbon.
great response Brian, that is probably why you'll never end up living under a bridge my friend
Does America have these problems yes yes we do. Why because people choose to be “victims” and want sympathy, and handouts. Sad part is there are billions donated to help our country. A few million there makes it better than it was pre-natural disaster. Billions here doesn't fix the post-human disaster. F-USOFT is gonna put us all out of business for not buying lol.
You're right Greg, so much is available for those that choose to take it. They still continue to make bad choices.
Nick… I have to commend you for being willing to step into the lions den. Great post.
In our politically correct world where really thin skin is the norm, more and more people need to speak up, just like you did, and tell it like it is.
Maybe I'll pull out some of my more edgy stuff just to keep the conversation moving.
Keep up the great work.
Thanks for your comment Peter and thanks for rocking it with your guest posts.
I saw that entire thread posted by carol on facebook. Her point about not helping another country in dire need after a natural disaster because the money is better spent on those people who choose not to work is INSANE!! It's funny this topic came up, because a couple of weeks ago I got into an argument with my wife and her sister about giving money to homeless people who are sitting on the street. They thought I was criminal for not wanting to give those guys a single cent.
I asked them if they really think they are helping that guy out? Their argument is that “If I can help feed them for one night then it's a good thing.” Great, if I can catch a fish for you, you'll eat for one night too. But If I teach you how to fish you will never be hungry (sorry I had to break that out). If you truly want to help get that person off the street they must find a job. I don't even think we should give them jobs thru government programs, they should have to find one.
Ahhhhh I could go on for days but I'll stop.
Are we all being sheep right now? following Nick? hehe
Scott, they have to 'want' it first. Why would you want a job when you can sit on a street corner and collect X amount of money a day
Great post Nick! This is at the very heart of how I feel about entitlement, though I admit in my younger years, due to a general lack of wisdom that I felt somewhat entitleled myself. I don't mind the feds giving Haiti some aid, but I feel an awful lot better about the private aid that millions of Americans (including myself) send, of their own free will, whether they could afford it or not. That's what makes this country great. The generous and enterprising spirit of its PEOPLE, which the entitlement mentality all but crushes into so many pieces.
I think you've got a great point. The power of the people helping and donating is much greater than depending on our government to do it for other suffering countries like Haiti. I'm glad you're not an 'entitled' person anymore Joe.
Nick,
I agree and disagree with this post. Let me explain. First let me start with Carol's point of view. For the most part, I don't agree with all of her examples but overall I agree. All of the children in this world that have problems (i.e. no homes, foster care, etc. etc.) it's not THEIR fault, they are children. Again, there are a lot of mentally challenged folks in the U.S. who need help, again it's not THEIR fault. Also, I would think that there are some homeless folks where it's not THEIR fault i.e. perhaps they were in the military, developed some kind of trauma, etc. and now lost everything, including their mind….so I'd even say it's not THEIR fault either……..when dealing with animals too……….it's not THEIR fault. Also, there are tons of American's without health care……and I'm not talking about the low-life loser who won't get off their a$$ to get a job or to start their own business, etc. What I'm talking about is self-employed people like myself, who do get off their a$$ and work and try to make themselves and the work a better place, but they need health care but when they apply for it personally they get turned down for pre-exisiting conditions (like heartburn lol) but ya know what we'd still pay for it if we got approved?? But we don't get approved…..so that's not my fault or a million other peoples fault that they got turned down for health care because they are self-employed and have a pre-existing condition (doesn't even matter how minor the condition is, mind you.) (Note: I've since gotten approved for my own health care by Aetna, but it's been a longgg time before I was able to be approved by myself and it was only after I took an all natural route to actually get rid of my heartburn issue. Of course, they made heartburn a pre-existing condition and that anything associated with it isn't covered for 12 months, but I'm ok with it, because I took care of it myself because the doctors couldn't, etc.)
There are a lot of people in the U.S. that we have to speak up and stand up for and those are the types of people I mentioned previously.
I agree with Carol that I think we should put a ton of money into the people I mentioned above. Where I disagree with Carol is all of the other people she mentioned: people in foreclosure, unemployed people, a lot of homeless folks (minus the ones I mentioned above,) etc. etc. These are people that think they are ENTITLED to something and that is the typical American mentality which is so annoying to me.
(Note: About foreclosures, I want to say that I feel the majority of people that are in foreclosure or lose their homes it's their own FAULT, but there are a small few which I feel should be helped because it's not their fault. For instance, I was trying to help a lady who was losing her house to foreclosure because she was a passenger in a car in which there was a horrible accident and she no longer can walk, work, etc. BUT she was self-employed so she couldn't collect disability or anything so she was kinda screwed. Rare cases like that, I think they deserve help. It wasn't her fault she was in a car accident and she can't walk or work now. That is a very small exception to all of the folks in foreclosure mind you.)
So in closing, I'd like to see all of this money that gets donated to help the people I mentioned first…the people where it's NOT their fault. And the majority of people that Carol mentioned, well they deserve what they get because they have that “entitlement” thing going on. There are plenty of jobs out there that the unemployed can work at….the problem is they'd have to work to “hard” and these American's just ain't down with that.
A ton of foreclosures could have been avoided if these people would have just taken personal responsibility and read their damn paperwork and said “uh honey, it says the mortgage will be $1500 and we only make $1200, we probably shouldn't do this.” No shit sherlock! Come on people, it's simple math, don't blame the banks or the mortgage companies blame yourself because YOU didn't read YOUR paperwork before YOU signed YOUR name on the dotted line.
Those types of people I have zero time for and they ain't entitled to nothing. They are entitled to the same things I'm entitled to…and that is the ability to go out and make whatever I want happen in my life cuz ain't nobody just gonna give it to you!
wow, that's gotta be the longest post I've eve received on any post. Thanks for putting your time and effort into it. I would like to mention one thing that stuck out to me was the mention of the lady in a car accident. It is her fault she didn't have proper insurance that would cover her living expenses while she was recovering, lack of savings for 'rainy days' so that excuse doesn't cut it, that was simply horrible planning on her part. No sympathy from me.
Nick,
Actually, that is an awesome point that you make about that lady. So she officially comes off of my list of people as well. Thanks for pointing that out, sometimes we get caught up in things and forget the OBVIOUS lol
Yeah I meant to mention at the end of my post, sorry it's so long. I tend to get long-winded sometimes
no worries, I appreciated that you spend the time to voice your opinion. That means a lot to me.
I felt that I was “ENTITLED” to defend myself here.
If you read my original post IN CONTEXT it reads… “Maybe America should help it's own Country before we start rebuilding another one! We have over 2 million homeless, over 2.8 million families in foreclosure, and millions of children in the foster care system, the unemployment rate is at an all time high… should I continue?”
This post says nothing about providing aid to Haiti. It does not portray the assumption the we should not give them the necessities that they need such as food, water and medical care. The 50+ people that responded to the post apparently read it in context. However there was one post by someone who I am assuming was illiterate and took the post out of context. The post refers to “rebuilding” Haiti which is going to cost the USA Billions of dollars in taxpayers money. As far as donating money to help these poor people with food water and medical care ABSOLUTELY! As far as bringing the Haiti orphans over to America and placing them in American homes ABSOLUTELY!!!
As far as the rest of the post there are thousands of families (woman and children) living in tent cities throughout our Country because they lost their home to foreclosure. Many of these families lost their home due to a sudden illness such as Cancer, heart attack etc… and had no medical coverage to pay the medical bills. I don't know about you but if I was faced with the decision of paying for my child or spouse to live or pay my mortgage I would choose life. When these families called their mortgage company asking them to modify their 12% ARM to make the home more affordable and enable them to pay their medical expenses the banks said NO! Some of the families are homeless because their company closed down (like many have in 2009) and they are out of the very job that once paid the mortgage that they signed for when they purchased the home. These are working class people, some worked at these companies for 10 to 15 years. Again they call their bank and ask for help and they are told NO!
Why are the banks saying NO? Read the reason why here…http://iamfacingforeclosure.com/blog/2009/12/01/anatomy-of-a-government-abetteded-fraud-why-indymaconewest-always-forecloses/
Not all of the homelessness, foreclosures and unemployment in America result in a man on a corner with a dirty beard panhandling. Many of America's homeless are mothers and their children living in tent cities, the woman who just lost her husband to a heart attack and could not afford to carry the mortgage alone or the mother who decided to use the money that she made working 2 jobs to pay the medical bills so her child could live instead of pay her mortgage. Some things in life are just more important at a given moment than others.
I still stand with my post hoping that America will one day open their eyes and see the real need in their own Country. Am I bitter… HELL YEA!
I wanted to add that most of the American families that are homeless cannot get approved for a rental property because of the foreclosure on their credit report and they cannot acquire Government Aid because they do not have a permanent address… I know many of you were thinking that they could just find help. NOT HAPPENING!
The link again for why the banks are not helping homeowners is http://iamfacingforeclosure.com/blog/2009/12/01...
It did not post properly in my previous post.
Thanks for stopping by Carol, feel free to include the rest of your comment that you sent me in Facebook. You're more than welcome to post the comment I sent you as well. I certainly don't mind.
I agree with this post 150%. I will stay out of this conversation. Great points carol!!!
Life Liberty and the pursuit of property doesn't mean you are entitled to keep a house you couldn't really afford to begin with. When I was 10 years old I had a million dollar spine operation, my parents made about 100 thousand a year. They had to pay every cent out of pocket the insurance wouldn't cover it because it was experimental to see if I could grow up with no athletic restriction. How did they pay for it they asked for help before they lost their asses. People get sick, people die, people get fired, but if they don't do anything to help themselves while they still can they aren't entitled to whine about it. You can't get a rental with a foreclosure on your credit well plain and simple you didn't take action. This is a real estate investors blog! The second you couldn't pay you should have started trying to sell your house.
The American dream doesn't mean you get to keep what you can't pay for! You get to have anything you are willing to work for there is a big difference. Wanting what you can't have is one thing, but bitching and moaning because you lost it is another. Math is a very basic thing use it to create a budget! If it doesn't fit it is something you can't get!
And the herd mentality starts
Great comment Greg! now; tell us how you really feel
I must be the only one here from Ohio. Yeah I agree ” son I worked 20yrs and Ford motor company their gone but my pride will not except food stamps”. Lets be serious. $25hr jobs do not come by every day. You can not just go out and get a new job or sell your house that easy. I agree free hand outs are bull shit, but a helping hand is not. Unemployment should go back to 6months because half them people see it as a vacation for 1yr. Oh and those hoes (yeah I said it that) that lay on their back and have 5kids and dont do shit. i'm stopping by to collect my hard earned tax money I'm paying you, lol. First politician to change that gets my vote. Now for my hard working middle class blue collar workers that are having a difficult time, your company left or down sized I sympathize with you. Seriously Walmart McDonalds are backed up with applications, its bad. My friends we can not assume everyone that was foreclosed on put them selves in that position. Many but not all. Oh and I have a good job and I do not have personal experience dealing with foreclosures. The system is messed up. I am willing to help a guy who is determine to make it and a guy who is down on his luck. I do agree it is difficult to determine who is a legit homeless person and who is not. So I wont say hand out money to the homeless but hey offer them a bucket of chicken I like chicken, don't you!!!!! Also I love everyone!
LeJon, as you know I am also from Ohio, and the job market can suck depending on your skill set. I'll agree with you the $25/hours jobs don't show up everyday, but if someone loses that job they still have the option of trying to find one or two jobs to cover their living expenses. If they had the proper motivation they would work whatever job they could find or work 2 jobs to make ends meet. They shouldn't have also tried to live above their means and have savings built up for situations such as a job loss. Now a days there is no such thing as job security, and people need to be prepared for an unexpected job loss. I agree that there are some that truly got foreclosed on and tried their best to avoid it. Each persons situation is different.
I also agree with you 100% about the free hands out and the 5 kids thing. There needs to be some sort of reform and I too would vote for someone that would ACTUALLY being reform instead of just talk.
I will agree with building a savings but what happens when it runs out. Two walmart jobs will not cover $25hr , and finding two jobs that pay$12.50hr is rather difficult also. You do make some very valid points. I am still sold on helping those who help themselves. Also the educational system needs to enforce a financial education course, thats another story. Anyways thanks for the responds.
Wow! How in the world did I miss this most provocative discussion?
Things happen quickly here Shae. You gotta keep up