Entitlement

Who has the right to get stuff?

White Man from birth, especially the firstborn.

In actuality, entitlement has multiple channels.

In some countries, being a citizen entitles a person to medical care. That is not exactly the case here in the United States. There are requirements and limitations here.

Pensions, beneficiaries and wills spell out who is entitled, following aging and death.

Typically parents’ assets are passed to their children with stipulations.

I have no children. I have a dog. I have relatives. I have friends. I have educational institutions and organizations begging for money. All I have to do is turn on the TV and there are all sorts of pleas for desperately needed money. Are any of these automatically entitled to my assets, besides my dog?

The rationale for distribution of the assets I have accumulated goes way back.

I like work. I am task-oriented. My talents, personality and drive thrived doing it.

At a pivotal point in my work history, I decided there was an opportunity to expand my talents.

My wife, who at that time was not legally permitted to be my wife, agreed to sell a product I had developed. Her all-encompassing talents promised good outcomes. We started a business to do so.

Starting a business is scary. It takes a long time to get it going, and requires knowledge and skill to keep it from failing. One must also question whether the product is worthy, desired? Basically, it’s a crapshoot. Maybe it will provide a living. Maybe it is pie in the sky.

With no guarantee of success, and a possibility of losing what assets we had, I decided to have a back-up plan.

As it percolated, there were two back-up plans.

The first one didn’t get off the ground. It was sabotaged by the very resource found to assist in its development. The business plan was stolen and given to her friends. As it turned out, it wasn’t a successful product. The ones who ended up implementing the business failed and lost their assets. 

The second one was a success. It was started by a fluke, a chance encounter. I heard a woman in a meeting I was attending tell another she would like to import greatly needed workers. My ears perked up. I would like to do that. Also, I was aware of an entire category of workers, skilled, where there was a critical shortage.

This woman was from the United Kingdom with access to skilled workers there.

I approached her and shared my desire to bring in workers. I asked if she would be interested in going into business with me to do so?

She was and we did.

We needed a framework to bring workers in, legally and officially.

So I started an employment agency. I had absolutely no idea how to do so, other than to research the legal requirements. Then meet them and become licensed. Incorporate.

Did that, and did that, and did that. No assets were required, just time and perseverance. I did use some funding for advertisements.

I found I was good at matching people and jobs. The agency was going to be a success.

My business partner was pleased. She invited my wife and I to attend Wimbleton with her and her husband.

Sit in the royal box. WHAT! It turned out her husband was a Duke. She was, by marriage, a Duchess. Talk about entitlement! All sorts of channels prescribed by history.

Country girls mixing with royalty? Entitled by business and trust, no way. We didn’t have the clothes, we wouldn’t have known who was to be greeted with a courtesy. We would have embarrassed our hosts.

Besides, we had to work. Selling my product. Filling job openings.

Later, when the agency became established, I contacted her. It was time to initiate our plan, bring one worker to the US and develop the process.

Her husband showed up at our business door. His wife had metastatic cancer. She could not survive. We were all heartsick.

My product was taking off. I was needed as manpower to assist in that business.

I could find no one capable to assist with the agency. There was no incentive to grow it. I shut it down. No money lost, experience gained.

The assets: Knowledge. Dollars don’t jump into your lap. You have to put in time and make adjustments. If you are not moving forward, you are moving backward. The world is moving past you. You’re not entitled just because you have a little success.

So one out of three: Success. Pretty good results.

The success wasn’t automatic. It required 24/7 attention, adjustments with time and updating of products. It took hard work over many years.

Now I alone have assets from that hard work. The assets after the death of my wife, who worked day and night to accumulate the assets. Assets that have no business being squandered. They are going to have to be distributed upon my death or before. There has to be enough to ensure extended care for me, should that be necessary.

What is left over?

One plan is to distribute dollars that match assets generated by the work of the recipients.

There are multitudes of organizations out there, including taking care of needy dogs, chimpanzees, elephants and children. Please: Donate to save them.

This is giving away fish. I don’t believe that is beneficial and, in essence, detrimental to the receiver (except on a temporary basis). I won’t do that. I will donate to the ones fishing and teaching those how to fish. Those that are working, accumulating their own assets.

Unless I marry again…

And thanks to the Gatlins’ “California is a brand new game.”

Let me know how you are doing. I care.

Contemplation: What should determine entitlement?

Sincerely,

Lynn Brooke © 2023, 2024

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