Do not put me in that unfortunate category that has been invented lately: an older, wealthy, educated, white male. Do not assume that I am a bad person or that I am arrogant about who I am! 

Lately, we have been hearing a lot about "Entitlement," whether "white" vs "black," or "male" vs "female," or "developed country" vs "undeveloped country," or United States Citizen" vs "Mexico Citizen."

Who actually is entitled?

Entitlement ... If someone has a sense of entitlement, that means the person believes he deserves certain privileges — and he's arrogant about it. The term "culture of entitlement" suggests that many people now have highly unreasonable expectations about what they are entitled to.

But it is not fair to label every male member of our society as "entitled".

This definition makes sense and I can agree, however, I think that there is some misunderstanding as to what "Entitlement" really means, so I did some research on Google to see what was being said about the concept, which appeared in the 1980s when Ronald Reagan was apparently the first president to use the term extensively. He may have “tired of getting beaten up every time he mentioned Social Security and wanted a broader and more neutral term,” political scientist Norman Ornstein has suggested.

The following came from the Washington Post, Robert J. Samuelson: "Let’s get rid of (the term) entitlements."

"Let’s drop the whole notion of “entitlement.” Just eliminate it. Politicians, pundits, and academics who talk about entitlements would then have to name the actual programs and argue their merits and demerits. This would encourage clarity and candor. Of course, that’s why it won’t happen. 

"Generally, Americans don’t want clarity and candor in their fiscal debates. We blame our leaders for budget brawls — this latest was a doozy — but forget that our leaders are largely governed by public opinion, which is awash in contradictions."

"So the government is “open” and the immediate threat of default has lifted. Great. But the political stalemate remains. Americans oppose excessive government spending and persistent deficits. Yet they also support the individual benefit programs (a.k.a. “entitlements”), led for example by Social Security, that drive spending and deficits."

The most important examples of entitlement programs at the federal level in the United States would include Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, most Veterans' Administration programs, federal employee and military retirement plans, unemployment compensation, food stamps, college loans, farm subsidies, and agricultural price support programs.

Mixed in with this list are programs that are paid for by the public as part of their salaries; for example, Social Security, Medicare, retirement plans, repaid college loans, etc. So I am not sure that I would call them entitlements. The difference comes when the government seeks to alter or change benefits that we cry, "I am entitled." Maybe we are maybe we are not.

In my case, I have feelings about many situations in which I might be called "entitled." Does that make me NOT eligible to state my feelings?

I am a man. I am white. I am educated. I am old. I am financially comfortable. 

Just because I am a man, that does not mean I am misogynistic or sex crazy. I respect women like I respect fellow males.

Not my fault that I am white, but I can still empathize and work towards a better life for someone who is Black or Latino!

I am old, but that is also not my fault and does not mean that I cannot identify with the youth of today and speak to their well being as well as their being somewhat spoiled.

I worked hard all my life, paid my taxes and social security fees, paid my dues to the Teacher's Retirement System. I managed my money carefully.

Does that make me unable to feel for those who struggle to feed their children or afford to purchase drugs for their illnesses? Am I not entitled to the various benefits for which I paid over my entire working life?

I had the opportunity to go to college and worked at getting an education which enabled me to function well in the job market as a teacher for over 30 years and to have "ideas" about how things should be. So I speak up,

Do not put me in that unfortunate category that has been invented: an older, wealthy, educated, white male and then assume I am a bad person! This seems to be what often happens and I do resent it. Thus I have spoken up!