This is the first in a yearlong series of essays that I will be writing for ChristopherDixon.com regarding the current environment in which we live. There is no doubt that these are challenging times. In many states, unemployment is approaching or exceeding 10%. Home foreclosures are still on the rise. Healthcare costs are the highest they have ever been. The Dow Jones is hovering at one of its lowest levels in nearly a decade. The US Government is ostensibly nationalizing some private companies, all the while dumping billions of taxpayer dollars into companies that have flawed and unsustainable business models.

When you pour all of this into a bubbling cauldron of unparalleled greed and recklessness, you have a recipe for a meltdown of epic proportions.

But, if you are like me, you are most likely shocked at the rapidity of the escalation of this crisis. We are left reeling, our heads spinning as we watch “The American Dream” begin to slowly fade. However, lest you think me a doomsday prophet, the theme throughout these essays is that we, as an American people, are BETTER than these circumstances, and if we do not possess the strength and fortitude to overcome these challenges, perhaps we are no longer deserving of the freedom and liberties that we have held so dear.

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One of my great forms of entertainment is disabusing people of incorrect notions. It’s not that I enjoy telling people that they are wrong, but that I have a sincere desire to dispel myths whenever possible. We are living in a time of significant mythology. It is not a mythology regarding gods and goddesses. Rather, it is a philosophical mythology. We have been fed the same lies long enough that we have begun to buy into them. I will most likely tackle a number of these erroneous philosophies throughout the year, and this piece will be no exception.

In 1776, when The Declaration of Independence was ratified, I don’t think that even that Thomas Jefferson himself could have imagined that what is now the most famous line could have been twisted and perverted into what we have made it. That line is (sing along if you know the words): “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

Beautiful, isn’t it? So what wrong-headed notion has sprung from these noble words? Simply this: that we are all equal…IN ALL ASPECTS. Wrong! If you read carefully, that is not what Thomas Jefferson and the signers of the Declaration said. The problem is that many people believe the words above, up to the end of the second phrase, and then stop there. But to fully understand what was meant, let’s go back a little further in time, and look at the documents that inspired this line.

The great English writer, John Locke, originally penned the phrase “no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions.” Locke clearly states that every person should have equal right to not be harmed, whether the harm is intended towards their life, health, freedom of possessions. Nowhere does it say that everyone is entitled to have what everyone else possesses. But, let’s look a little further. George Mason wrote something similar in the Virginia Declaration of Rights: “That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.” In both of these statements, the equality that is spoken of is not absolute equality, but equality in the sense that we are all equally entitled to live our lives and pursue a happy life without threat of bodily harm, threats to our lives and safety, and threats to our freedom to enjoy them.

Unfortunately, the “…all men are created equal…” has come to mean something else in our society. People have taken it to mean that everyone is entitled to a 4000 square-foot, 5 bedroom, 3 bathroom house that sits on 20 acres. People have taken it to mean that everyone is entitled to drive either a Lexus, Mercedes or BMW. People have taken it to mean that we should all be entitled to eat every night at The Melting Pot, Ruth’s Chris Steak House or McCormick and Schmick’s. People have taken it to mean that everyone is entitled to a 60-inch, flat panel TV in every room of the house.

And this is one of the main reasons that we are where we are. All of the above statements are exaggerated for effect, but they are not far from the truth. But rather than focus on the falsehoods, let’s turn this around and look at the truth.

Truth #1: We are all equal to have the freedoms outlined in the Bill of Rights. We are free to speak our minds. We are free to worship in the church of our choice (or not worship at all, if that is our choice). We are entitled to a fair trial should we be arrested. We are entitled to the right to assemble, and also petition the government to change should we feel that it is going in the wrong direction.

Truth #2: We are all equal in the sense that no physical or philosophical characteristic makes anyone different inherently from anyone else. We are equal in the sense that we should be free from discrimination based upon race, creed, religion and a whole host of other characteristics.

Truth #3: We are all equal in that we have the right to PURSUE happiness.

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It is the misunderstanding of this third truth that is the biggest root of our problems. Notice that at no point, none of the writers mentioned above define exactly what happiness actually IS. Furthermore, the statement is NOT “…Life, Liberty and Happiness…”. It seems that many people leave out the “pursuit” part of it. These two misunderstandings combined have bred a society centered on wrong-headed entitlement.

First, we have an incorrect definition of happiness. There probably isn’t enough room on this website for me to try and explain what happiness ought to be. It is intangible, and my vocabulary is probably insufficient to adequately describe it. But, I prefer to think of it in different terms. I like to replace the word “happiness” with “contentedness”. “Contented” is defined by Webster as “feeling or showing satisfaction with one’s possessions, status or situation.” Unfortunately, it is a lack of contentedness that has driven our society’s thirst for more and more “stuff”. We need to stop looking to houses, cars, televisions, game systems, fine foods and social status to bring us joy. Instead, we need to look at the people who are important to us: our family, our friends, our community. Relationships are the source of true happiness and contentedness. Those are the things that we should treasure.

Second, we have an incorrect idea that pursuit automatically results in success. I have no illusion that if I pursued a career in professional basketball, I would fail miserably. I am not tall, I can’t shoot for three-pointers for anything, and I am not fast. Now, if I practiced day-in and day-out, could I become a decent basketball player? SURE! Would I be NBA material? Sadly, no. Furthermore, I could not be a psychologist, biologist, novelist or any of a whole host of other things. My talents do not lie in those areas. I have accepted those limitations. I am content with those limitations.

You see, this “pursuit = success” idea is pervasive in our society, even to our grade school children. I always cringe when I hear someone tell a child “If you put your mind to it, you can do ANYTHING!”. You may think me a heartless soul, but I think this is one of the greatest lies ever told. We each have our own special talents and gifts, and when we put our minds to utilizing those to their fullest extent, we can do anything that requires those talents. However, as I mentioned above, no matter how much I put my mind to being the fastest man in the world, it’s not going to happen. That’s not my talent.

But it is exactly this idea that we have fed to young children that starts the deep-seeded discontentedness in our circumstances. We think, “Why can’t I be a CEO of a multi-billion-dollar company?” or “Why shouldn’t I be making $350,000 a year?”. Clearly, from the fact that there is such a small number of people in America that fit into these categories, there is a relatively low probability that all of us are going to achieve those goals. There is nothing in the world that says that we are ENTITLED to these things. We are NOT entitled to a six-figure salary; some people may achieve that, but it is certainly NOT a guarantee. We are NOT entitled to buy a house that has an appraised value that is 10 times our annual salary; that is simply a recipe for foreclosure. We are NOT entitled happiness every single day of our lives; but we are entitled to contentment.

Entitlement is a disease that has infected our country (and many countries around the world).

It is now time to research the cure…

Stay tuned next month as we explore the cures to the societal equivalent to the common cold: entitlement issues.

Dr. Greever received his PhD in chemistry from the University of Missouri. In addition to being a prolific writer/author, he has taught numerous classes throughout the Midwest on everything from chemistry and laser photonics to motivation and current issues. In addition to his extensive teaching and writing, he has been instumental in highly classified anti-terrorism advising for the United States government. Dr. Greever lives in Dallas with his wife and daughter.