You Are Not Special

We took a bus out of town this weekend. We left on Thursday night so the bus wasn’t very busy and there was plenty of room. As we sprawled out in the seats trying to get comfortable, I noticed the girl in front of me was acting pretty strange. After a few minutes of fussing around, she looked back at me and said “I have my dog here. I’m not supposed to have a dog on the bus.” - apparently she brought her dog and was hiding it under her blanket. She’s not supposed to have a dog on the bus, yet she brought a dog. I nodded my head and thought “Why would you think it’s okay for you to bring your dog on the bus? You are not special.”

I didn’t stand up and alert the driver, but this interaction got me thinking about how every person on the planet can seem to be filled with the idea that they are special and that the rules do not apply to them. This girl obviously had a sense of entitlement that she should be able to bring her dog on the bus, even though she knew that there was a rule that specifically stated otherwise. Later in the bus ride she would say that she “had no choice” because her boyfriend couldn’t watch the dog. I do imagine that she had a choice - her choice was to believe that she is special. She is the Disney princess, and the world revolves around her.

I would venture to guess that this wasn’t the first or last time that this girl has bent the rules to accommodate her desires. She walks around with a sense of entitlement, even if she has done nothing to deserve that. This goes go hand-in-hand with her not owning her actions. She said it herself - she had “no choice” but to bring her dog on the bus. She knew that the dog was not allowed on the bus, she brought the dog on the bus, and she would not be held responsible for bringing the dog on the bus. She simply had “no choice” but to do it.

When you’re going through your day, take a look and see where you are acting as if you are special. Do you make excuses for your actions, or do you make your situation work? Do you put other people in awkward situations, or do you take responsibility for actions? I invite you to be a responsible person. Your personal circumstances may seem extraordinary and special to you, but nobody else thinks so. In the eyes of the world, you are not special.

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