Three Days to Bastille Day, What’s Changed?

Three Days to Bastille Day and one has to wonder, what has changed?

Well, there is far greater access to education, to health services, to communication, to transport, to the possibilities of self-enrichment and the possibility of equitable employment and opportunity regardless of gender, race or location.

Technology has melted borders and barriers.

The world has and continues to change, and, as chaotic as things are at the moment, we are still being presented with golden opportunities to find better, more sustainable and equitable ways to live, do business and grow.

So, I would say “Yes” things have changed for the better since the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789.

But…

There are still a few things that have persisted, all be it in a different guise.

What exactly?

Well, if we consider the roll of the French aristocracy in the 1700s, and anywhere in Europe at the time, the idea was that the aristocracy were supposed to be the Custodians of the Land and the People. They were supposed to make sure that their artisans and merchants were able to trade and improve the lives of all. The aristocrats were supposed to create a safe environment by protecting and supporting their people.

The theory here was that as a Lord, you took Total Accountability for your people. You ensured they were safe, that they were fed and that if someone tried to invade and hurt them, you were there to stop the aggressor with your knights. The offset to this, in theory, was that you got certain privileges. The privilege of a title and a nice manor, to keep you comfortable while you solved the big problems of your Dutchy, Principality etc.

Unfortunately, the privileges earned by well-meaning and well-to-do men, who were then elevated to the aristocracy, were invariably misused due to the hereditary nature of the title – thus the terms Entitled or Entitlement.

Men who won land and titles through honest custodianship handed their titles down to their children. And, within a few generations, the entitled offspring indulged in their privileges, but totally forgot about their accountability. Over generations they destroyed, overworked, pillaged and ignored their people. Hence, the Revolution.

This cycle has been in play since the dawn of humanity, regardless of the prevalent socio-econmic system. The cycle is still in play now. Many talk about privilege as if it were a dirty word. But the really dirty word is Entitled or Entitlement, because that implies privileges given without accountability, and without responsibility.

What the entitled at all levels of society forget, is that you cannot have Privileges without Accountability, and you cannot have Accountability without Privileges.

To claim the privileges of status, of wealth, in a sustainable way, is to be accountable for every single action and to take absolute responsibility where others won’t. The greatest privilege in itself is the very act of serving and creating a new, positive future.

So, the royalty of France may be gone, but the subtle miasma of entitlement is all around us and is a very attractive trap to fall into. I am no exception.

What’s my suggestion then?

The simple answer is to storm the Bastille once again. The Bastille of our own egos and entitlement. The only way to do that, in my experience, is to take on more responsibility, and deliver.

There is no greater privilege than seeing your team, your clients and your family grow because you have done your best to really serve them and make a better world.