Are we entitled to happiness, or even survival?

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OliveOilMom
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11 Feb 2015, 3:19 am

With the exception of parents owing children food, clothing and shelter, do you think that we are entitled to the things that are necessary for survival? If we can't work or find a way to make money or if we don't qualify for things like disability, do you think we are entitled to be given food and shelter? In this scenario there are no programs like food stamps or projects or welfare. Do you think that others are obligated to give us food and shelter and medicine if we cannot get it ourselves?

Also, are we entitled to happiness? We are entitled to pursue happiness but I don't believe we are necessarily entitled to have happiness. Look at the way some guys complain that they are entitled to a girlfriend and can't get one so it's not fair. Look at how some people say that they are entitled to go to the best school or get a good job that they really want but aren't qualified for. Do you think that we are entitled to happiness and also are we entitled to not having our feelings hurt or being offended?

Just curious.


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Fnord
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11 Feb 2015, 4:20 am

In my opinion, we are entitled to nothing we don't earn for ourselves, whether it is our next meal or a prison sentence. Everything we receive without earning it is either free for the taking or given to us under someone else's sense of grace or obligation.

Happiness? If we're entitled to happiness, then where do we obtain this 'entitlement'? Is it handed out by government bureaucrats? The media? Big Pharma?

Happiness comes from within, it is not doled out like some commodity. It is a state of mind, not a medium of exchange.


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heavenlyabyss
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11 Feb 2015, 4:26 am

What about the little African child who is starving? Does he deserve happiness? Does he deserve survival?



Meistersinger
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11 Feb 2015, 4:35 am

I'm in a particularly bad mood, so fair warning on what I'm about to say next.

Nobody owes you anything. If anything, the entire human race needs to be extinct.

Send any and all replies to /dev/null.



OliveOilMom
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11 Feb 2015, 4:38 am

heavenlyabyss wrote:
What about the little African child who is starving? Does he deserve happiness? Does he deserve survival?


Deserving something and being entitled to something are two very different things. Of course he deserves happiness and foot, but he is only entitled to get it from his parents who are bound to take care of him until he's old enough to take care of himself, and then the obligation ends.

I'm not suggesting that we stop giving people things they aren't entitled to, I'm just wondering who all here feels that people are entitled to things we don't earn or not.


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heavenlyabyss
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11 Feb 2015, 4:47 am

What's your point?

You'll never understand what goes on in another person's mind. Stop pretending that you can.



OliveOilMom
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11 Feb 2015, 5:01 am

heavenlyabyss wrote:
What's your point?

You'll never understand what goes on in another person's mind. Stop pretending that you can.


My point is to find out who all believes we are entitled to things in life that we haven't earned and who believes we are. It seems like an interesting discussion.

Also hon, I'm not pretending that I can understand whats in another persons mind. What left field did you pull that out of? Bless your heart.


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androbot01
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11 Feb 2015, 1:17 pm

No on both counts.
It is charity that allows for the provision of food and shelter. Not entitlement of the recipient.
No one can make another happy, but I think we are entitled not to be made unhappy.



Feyokien
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11 Feb 2015, 1:20 pm

Nope nothing is guaranteed besides that you were born and for now that you will die. Everything else is up to chance, luck, and work. Not everyone can or will make it, it's sad but true.



Zajie
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11 Feb 2015, 3:26 pm

Yes I think people should help eachother, also parents are the first example that teaches that there are people who are willing to help others for nothing in return like how parents raise their children and provide them food and shelter and take nothing in return
I guess happiness depends on what you want and whats your desires because people are happy when they have what they want



aghogday
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11 Feb 2015, 5:48 pm

Well, we live in a country designed around A Declaration of Independence for Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

We, as U.S. citizens, are entitled to the pursuit of happiness, and that is all, in the U.S., in regard to Happiness that 'we' are entitled to.

And yes, not easy but happiness IS possible to attain continuously in life....in the NOW of life AS IS.

But NO TRUE REAL human being FREEDOM IS EVER FREE, AS TRULY that does come from within and must be practiced like A way of life, for whatever path works for each individual journey to basically live and stay in a state of bliss always now.

I work hard at happiness and my reward is happiness all the time NOW.

But no, if I lived in, for example, a Muslim country, my path to Human Bliss would NOT be allowed, AT ALL. :)

SO..

GOD BLESS THE U.S.A.!



Oh, and I, as a North Florida boy, if you, do not appreciate the song above, you are the first Alabamian I meet who does not JUST LOVE IT, SALUTING IT ALL THE WAY!

Patriotism still sings a voice loud and TRUE WHERE I LIVE IN LOWER L.A. (Lower Alabama) aka the WESTERN PANHANDLE OF FLORIDA!..;)

AND YEAH.. that might have SOMETHING to do, with 3+ military stations/bases in a radius of 50 miles.....

A place where GOD, Country, AND FAMILY STILL RULES HUMAN LIFE, AS IS, overall, and of course, as in all things, tHere ARE EXCEPTIONS, hmm.. and human differences, as well or not so well...;)


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aghogday
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11 Feb 2015, 6:01 pm

Oh, and in regard to the survival thingy, it's an EXTREMELY STRONG HUMAN INSTINCT BUT EVEN at that, we are not the ones in full control ever over what will happen next, per life or death, regardless of how easy culture makes that overall.

The Ultimate Master Is MOTHER NATURE in alignment with HUMAN NATURE, AND SHE has strange and mysterious ways of working....and so do some humans who exercise more OR LESS of their HUMAN potential in MORE or less WAYS of life, with survival always as the core driving force of HUMAN Life....

BUT Human Free Will when used in a relative sense WITH HUMAN NATURE AND THE REST OF MOTHER NATURE, in a trusting cooperating partnerSHIP, CAN AND DOES LEAD to REAL Human Miracles in both Survival AND HAPPINESS..!:)


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ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo
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11 Feb 2015, 6:18 pm

What I want to know is, why would somebody even ask such a question?????

OF COURSE we are entitled to survival. If we weren't, we would all be dead because people would not have a clue how to survive. Everything we do has an element of socialism otherwise you would see death on a grand scale. We all depend on each other to survive and if we can't figure that out, we end up dead or in jail. If you really consider things at their most basic level, you will see, no one exists entirely on their own. Are you entitled to grow a garden to feed yourself? Are you entitled to take a breath of air? No, you just do it because if you don't, you die. Some people choose death. Smart ones choose life and grab it by it's gusto. Others will sit there and think and think and think themselves into a dire, nihilistic depression. What good ever comes of it?

It's time to stop being so antisocial, nihilistic and pessimistic and embrace optimism and positivism.



mr_bigmouth_502
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11 Feb 2015, 8:23 pm

I'd say people should be entitled to happiness and the necessities of life. Why? Life is suffering without those things, and I don't believe in forcing people to suffer, or leaving them to sink or swim.



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11 Feb 2015, 9:11 pm

Life doesn't come with guarantees for anyone. The more mature a society is, the more chance of happiness for all, but it isn't an entitlement, and Eleanor Roosevelt's thoughts on maturity are worth pondering:

“A mature person is one who does not think only in absolutes, who is able to be objective even when deeply stirred emotionally, who has learned that there is both good and bad in all people and in all things, and who walks humbly and deals charitably with the circumstances of life, knowing that in this world no one is all knowing and therefore all of us need both love and charity.”


― Eleanor Roosevelt, It Seems to Me: Selected Letters



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11 Feb 2015, 9:45 pm

Eleanor Roosevelt is, at present, underrated, in my book.

She went against the tide of Genteel Society during the early 20th century. She was a feminist pioneer in lots of ways. She was a great intellectual Exemplar.

Yep...and she wanted fulfillment from men. She wasn't a cold fish. Franklin couldn't provide that aspect of things, even before he contracted polio.