Back at the Ranch

I’m an American. I was born here. I grew up here. In fact, I’ve never technically left here. I like McDonald’s, I don’t care what kind of documentary you throw in my DVD player, I have the right to eat there, and I am going to capitalize on that right. I also have a discount card which I purchased from the local High School football team which entitles me to a free large sandwich along with many great deals at other stores. One store allows me $5 off any purchase of $25 or more, excluding tennis balls and treadmills. Don’t ask me why these two items are together, or why they’re even excluded, $25 worth of tennis balls would be a lot for your average tennis connoisseur, and $5 off a $700 treadmill doesn’t cut into profits I’m sure; nonetheless, the restriction is there for all to see. The Golden Arches, on the other hand, simply say "free large sandwich with purchase of same" – literally, that is all that it says on the back of the card. I have no complaints, so I pull into the parking lot.


It had been raining all day, and the last thing I wanted to do was get out in the pouring rain and run into the restaurant when all I had to do was use the drive thru, after all, that is my right. So in the pouring rain I pull up to the speaker and order a #1. Very kindly I asked for my free Big Mac, as I am entitled to it because I have the card, and quickly I am denied. Denied? Denied! No no no. I don’t think so, the card says I can have it, and I’m going to get it. In the pouring rain we debated through a speaker about whether or not I deserve a free Big Mac. As cars piled up behind me, anxiously awaiting their lunch, I stood my ground.


Now let me set the stage, this wasn’t my first encounter with greedy fast food chains. My freshman year in college they instituted the Collegiate Card, which allowed discounts at several establishments around the greater Abilene area. A great idea. I particularly enjoyed the 20% I received at Burger King. 20 percent! Who can pass that up? So I took a great deal of advantage of the discount, leaving with a Whopper Meal for under $3. I became accustomed to my discount, and returned the favor by giving BK my patronage on a regular occasion. That is until they no longer acknowledged my discount. I walked into the establishment and kindly demanded my rights as a cardholder, and they instructed me that it was a "misprint" on the card and they were no longer recognizing it. It wasn’t my fault that they had an error, why should I have to pay? I wanted my way, it’s Burger King for crying out loud. Alas, they did not concede, and I informed them that I was lied to, and that I could not trust this organization and would no longer be giving them my business. I went on a year long boycott of the entire franchise – nationwide. And you best believe they felt the sting. Burger King has never been the same.


So there I was again, with my window rolled down in the pouring rain, calmly, yet sternly debating with a speaker outside a McDonald’s as to why I deserved a free Big Mac with my Value Meal. Soon the young lady manning the head phones found she was no match for my sharpened rhetoric and dizzying intellect, and compounded by the fact that I WAS RIGHT, she asked me to pull forward and speak with the manager. So I did, emboldened in my stance, yet wary of the consequences of my actions, after all, look at Burger King.


But hey, who are they to deny me of my rights? I am an American, I don’t think I have to say it again. I was born here, I am a citizen of this great nation. I have a ton of rights: Since 1791 I’ve had the right to free speech, freedom of religion, freedom from search and seizure, the right to bear arms, even the right to remain silent if I so choose... you name it, I have the right to it. Out of these rights and my citizenship I am entitled to many things, anywhere from calling shotgun to a fair and speedy trial judged by my peers. I would like to think that a free Big Mac, providing I have the card that tells me so, would fall within those rights of entitlement. This was a huge moment, waiting on the manager. After all, what else am I not getting that I am entitled to?
And then it hit me. Here I am in New York, on a rainy day, the inside of my truck wet from trying my best to save around 78 cents because I felt I deserved it. Here I am, trying to teach boys how to become men, how to follow one man, the very one who truly held the trump card of entitlement.


The King of heaven came to earth and born a poor, illegitimate child. Sure Joseph was there, but I’m sure no one else believed the whole "Immaculate conception" story – a large part of me doubts they ever told it. He grew up amidst whispers of controversy and stares of shame, and ended up dying the same way. The Prince of heaven, the center of glory itself, lived and died completely absent of it. He took on the guilt and shame of the world, a load he was not deserving of, not entitled to bear, and bore it. Not once did he invoke his rights, not once did he demand his freedom, not once did he require the fate he was most certainly entitled to.


Entitlement is defined as "a perceived right to demand; the opposite of a gift in that it is without appreciation." I am entitled to death, to eternal separation from God... it’s one of the many things which I am entitled to, yet will not receive. Not because of myself, not because of my rights, but because of a gift, a gift for which I am eternally thankful.


And realizing this, sitting there staring at the manager, I handed the young lady my money, took my value meal with only one Big Mac and smiled. I did not apologize, I was not rude. I did not scream or yell. I truly believe I handled myself the way Christ would want me to, and I have every right to go there tomorrow and continue to demand a free Big Mac, I am entitled to it. Yet, from here on out I’ll choose not to, understanding that one day, thanks to my gift, I won’t be receiving something else I’m entitled to.