"Creeping Crisis"

We live in an age of entitlement, a time when everything has to be available to everyone, everywhere, all the time. “Simply because we can.” Gen Z is a prime example. Lots of rights, few obligations. Sabbaticals, no commuting to a job far from daycare, working from home, … And if you don’t get your way at work, switching to a competitor is a breeze. Probably even with a signing bonus. Thanks to the tight labor market, nothing bad can really happen to you.

Here are a few more “spoiled” examples. The results of the MBO vocational test have changed. In the past, students would all choose a trade, from chef to carpenter. These days, one in four vocational students says they want to become an “influencer.” In healthcare, too, there’s no end to the extravagance. There are hardly any limits. Expensive surgeries for the elderly with no prospects—we just go ahead and do them.

“I have the right to own a home,” someone recently claimed on camera for the NOS. It’s completely unclear where that right comes from. And the chief sociologist at CBS, in an article in De Telegraaf, raises questions about the observation that the number of 15- and 16-year-olds with paid jobs or part-time jobs has increased dramatically. Is that desirable, she wonders aloud. The answer is, “Yes, of course.”

Another characteristic of our times is that we attribute (the cause of) much of what we dislike to factors outside ourselves. Things that go our way are credited to us, while things that go wrong have someone to blame: the government, the tax authorities, the police, etc. We create an “us vs. them” dynamic: we are responsible for our success; they are the cause of our misfortune. A perfect example: there are people who circumvent municipal building codes and build a nice little home in the floodplains. Then, when flooding occurs, they turn to the national government to compensate them for the uninsured damage.

It symbolizes the state of this country. This is where we stand. With that mindset, we’re facing a whole series of social, economic, and environmental crises. Many point to the rich-poor divide and shift the blame onto others. But is that really realistic without asking where our relative prosperity comes from? To whom do we owe that? Moreover, you don’t reward the “have-nots” by punishing the “haves.”

Pointing fingers polarizes people and is counterproductive. Everyone wants to change; no one wants to be changed. Judgment causes people to withdraw and look out only for themselves. There are plenty of deep pockets out there. And that’s exactly why nothing changes—and then everything will come crashing down on us. These crises are like silent assassins. There’s no tipping point; the net is simply closing slowly but surely. Paradoxically, the only alternative is to hope for a war or a pandemic to shake us awake.

To prevent these creeping crises, we must come together. We must not look back, but—whether we’re spoiled or not, rich or not, …—agree with one another, without judgment, on who will contribute what to the various transitions. Let’s roll up our sleeves and get to work—together! Then we’ll see what the real divide really is. My prediction: those who roll up their sleeves and those who hold out their hands.