At the back of Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine is a small ad with Ed McMahon saying, "A relaxing bath is something we all have a right to."
The ad is for a company that makes elderly-friendly bathtubs, which is a good idea, but I don't know that it is a right. It might stretch "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" a bit far to claim that we have a right to a relaxing bath. It is not a right granted by God nor by any government of which I'm aware.
Perhaps that is our problem, thinking we have a right to luxuries. My grandparents used an outhouse until 1980. I lived without indoor plumbing for a year in England. No day passes that I'm not grateful for indoor toilets and hot and cold running water. I never take that for granted, but I don't see plumbing as my right. I see it as something I've earned, something I can afford, perhaps, but not a right.
If we think we have a right to luxury, to prosperity, wouldn't that lead many of us to unethical behavior to obtain it, thinking the end justifies the means? I wonder.
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I believe that that prosperity is there for us to claim it, if we so wish - but definitely not a right. Yes, there are many people out there who will go to the extremes to get what they think is "their right", but as for me...I'll let God decide what I should or shouldn't get ;)
Posted by: Maria Palma | June 15, 2006 1:16 PM | Permalink to Comment