It is that time of year again; the time of family, cold winter nights by the fire and packed shopping malls. It is the season of giving, but more importantly receiving, right? At least that’s how the media paints it. As long as you give me a good gift, I’ll give you a good gift. No one wants to buy someone the newest iPhone and in return receive a gaudy scarf that sort of resembles roadkill (no offense Grandma).

We have become so accustomed to this tradition of buying the best, most expensive gifts for people, but why? We are at a point where we feel entitled to receive gifts, for a reason no one can seem to explain to me. This concept is not just limited to the holidays though, we see it in our everyday lives.

Not to generalize, but your grandpa is right. A lot of the world’s entitlement comes from the younger generations. Many kids expect to be paid for doing chores or expect to be handed a nice car or expect to go to a good college. All of this can only be achieved with hard work, or at least it should be.

I have known for a very long time that my parents, nor I will be able to fully afford my college tuition. I know I’m going to have to earn the grades and the scholarships, but this does not mean I have never felt entitled, because I have. I am not exempt from this concept that I feel has played a role in everyone’s life. But the way I see it, if you want nice things, you should work for them. You’re not learning the value of luxuries by having them handed to you.

This is not just something we see on a high school level, but it is all over the world. Even in adulthood, people expect to be given a high-paying job because they are a college graduate. This could even be seen to reach all the way to the environment and how much we take it for granted. We reap all the benefits we get from nature such as trees and clean air, yet give slim to nothing back in return.

The thing with entitlement is that it has a snowball effect. If we as society continue to hand our kids the world, they will grow up and expect the world to be given to them. If we keep giving the world away, we are not going to have a world anymore, or a very good one at that.

So I bring us back full-circle, regardless of what holiday you celebrate, it may have something to do with gifts. Christmas is probably the greatest example of gift-giving because now it is practically the basis of the holiday. And because 92 percent of Americans celebrate Christmas according to a 2013 Pew Research Center survey, take a minute and imagine if we did not give gifts on Christmas. Would it still portray the same meaning? Would it be as popular? I would hope so. I think the material things, such as gifts, blind us from feeling gratitude towards one another. We even take the ability to spend time with our families for granted, not even thinking twice of what it would be like to spend the holidays without them.

I am not saying we should omit gift-giving, because maybe it is a good way to just be nice to the people we love. All I am saying is we should not expect to be given so many great things. Maybe we should think twice about internally groaning when we see that roadkill-esque scarf. Or consider getting a part-time job if we are able to. Or even something as simple as putting in a little extra effort with our grades for our parents’ wallets’ sake. The thing with entitlement is it is prevalent in everyone, but it is the little things we can do to overcome it.