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Editor’s Note: This column, “LBWA” (Leadership By Wandering Around), is based on the premise that, in order to find out what’s going on in the field, a parks and rec leader has to leave his or her desk and “wander around” the area of operations, talk to people, ask questions, and kick around ideas with the individuals in the thick of delivering services to the public. So the author will bring up issues and ask the leaders among the readership to share their knowledge and experiences.
I recently spoke with a retired man who has volunteered to work with the city to improve recycling efforts. He had worked in the corporate environment, and this was his first brush with public service. He lamented how difficult some citizens are, even with volunteers, and how oblivious and unconcerned they are with the challenges of providing services to a widely divergent public. I opined that, indeed, some citizens have an over-inflated sense of “entitlement.”
His response was so startling in its clarity that I felt the need to write this column around it. He said, almost absent-mindedly, “Yes, but the definition of entitlement in this case is: Ignorance, augmented by arrogance, which leads to intolerance.”
I sat in stunned admiration when that rolled off his tongue, and blurted out, “What did you just say?”