“Why does it always happen to me?”
“Must be a glitch! This can’t be right!”
I can go on for days. I hear them on a constant basis and they represent a growing mentality. I feel this generation and mine before it is engaging in a level of victimhood that is both damaging and confusing.
I am not talking about reparations here, though that and the argument that ‘blacks act like victims’ factors into this. In truth that is the confusing part. It is most often the people who are acting the most like victims that are claiming black people are victims as part of their corrosive narrative.
Excuses and victimhood are the way of the world right now. It is easy and comforting to say you aren’t responsible and to say in an even stronger voice that you are being cheated or there is a plot/conspiracy to get you. It is as familiar as religion. When we don’t have a reason or don’t choose to accept the existing reason for something we turn to God or we turn to excuses.
I have multiple kids who think this way. The majority of my students and co-workers think this way. I fight every single day to avoid thinking this way. My truth is that the universe is very good to me. I am a lucky lucky man who has been fortunate enough to be placed in good situations. Any screwing up is entirely my fault.
I wish more people had the confidence to admit the position they are in. It is easier to talk about your position when it is crappy than it is when it is good.