“And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to[a] one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.”
Once upon a time, during mother's day dinner, with parents, grandparents, children and grandchildren at the table, a dispute among the grandchildren arose. Each was clamoring for “stuff” the grandparents owned, to which they each believed they were entitled. “I should get the silverware, because I used to help grandma polish it”; said one. “I should get the 1972 cutlass, because I helped grandpa wash it”; said another. The clamor continued as I sat in dismay, before standing up from the table with the retort; “You selfish, inconsiderate people! Our grandparents are very much alive and sitting at this table while you selfishly devise arguments on how to divide the spoils of their death and do so right in front of their faces. You should be ashamed of yourselves.”
After few years, two of my cousins devised a scheme to have their mom divorce their dad because he was squandering the family money, through a few investments. This was the same dad who made VERY much money through investments. Mom did indeed divorce the dad. His heart was broken after so many years of marriage and ultimately drank himself to death. He did not have drinking problem before the divorce. The family was divided in greed and hate. The truth of the matter was not about what the parents did with their own money, the heart of the matter was that the kids wanted to get their inheritance, even if it meant destroying the marriage. Not one of those four kids have ever held a full time job. Their entire life was paid for by the parents.
I guess my point in all of this is that I see a generation of entitled post-pubescent infants who clamor for what they did not earn and it destroys marriages and entire families.
Today, the estates have been settled for the grandparents and the parents, who have all died. The remaining grandchildren have no relationships with each other and it is not bearable to sit with any of them, even now, many years later, because they still gossip, ruminate and slander each other for the “injustice of it all” and each complaining about not getting the “fair share”. It's disgusting.
Any family member who dares to bring up the gimme dat play while I am alive and healthy, will immediately receive a stern warning to never discuss the subject to me or anyone else ever again, or that person can be certain that there will nothing...NOTHING...left to him, or her.