Gimme...

There's an abundance of feeling entitled all around. Where does this come from? Folks think they are owed a job, happiness, immediate recognition, STUFF without effort, responsibility or even honor. I'm seeing this in a lot of younger people today. They think they should just get what they need without working. A lot of them are just working part time....and not going to college. All the good stuff requires dues to be paid. It's as simple as that. Oh, sure, you might get a windfall, win the lottery, someone dies and leaves you a ton of money. But in the whole of things, you're responsible for your own good stuff happening.

I'm an artist and writer by trade. I went through college, worked for and paid for it myself. Graduated with a BA with honors in Visual Art and minored in English. I've always worked. I've worked since I was 11, babysitting, drawing portraits for people. For some reason, people think that my success as an artist just happened, and what a lucky girl I am. Well, yeah, I am a lucky girl. But what I've done and how far I've come is by my own effort. It didn't happen overnight. The first time I made $150 a month painting sweatshirts...well, I thought I was the bomb. Getting a check for doing something you like to do rocks. But that was 15 years ago. We've struggled, I've worked, homeschooled, dealt with a chronic illness, and a supportive but oft absent husband, raised one incredible kid and have another work in process. My family comes first; always has, and when God came into my life, then He came first.

Now I get to charge a pretty price for what I do. But it's still work, hard work, and requires time and effort. No movie of the week stuff here where someone makes a special cookie and suddenly all they do is drink lattes and go to Aruba. I had one guy watching me paint a mural; he was decked out in a suit. After a minute he said, "I want to be you." I handed him the brush and said, "Fine. Pay my orthodontist." Guess he didn't know that I work as hard as he does. I was just willing to make the sacrifices and effort to do something that I love. Nothing good comes without effort. What would be the point?