I definitely wouldn't call it a sense of entitlement. What you say though is disturbing and unfortunate and I wish I had a good answer. Imagine you buy a plane ticket and fly to somewhere exotic. Passenger in seat 11a is thinking "flying is horrible. It is a huge polluter. You're all crammed in like sardines. The airline is owned by wealthy fat cats and I had to pay $1500 for the 'honor' of being stuck with horrible food, crying babies and long lines at the toilets" passenger 11b has a constant smile on his face "I can't believe that one weeks salary + 12 hours of flying is all it takes to be in a completely different part of the world starting an adventure with unknown possibilities and tremendous learning to be had"
The thing is I guess they're both right! But now you know why you dont need to worry about why your coworker is grinning in the seat next to you. He/she is viewing the same circumstance very differently. Maybe over time your view can change to (mainly because you seem so unhappy with how it currently is)
An interesting post and one that has me questioning quite a lot.
I actually used to have that sort of viewpoint to a huge extent. I remember vividly thinking when starting University - there are so many other people begging to have this chance, I was the lucky chosen one, I should revel in it (I had a relatively poor upbringing).
Fast forward a few years and it's all coloured by what I can only describe as... 'seeing too much'. It's like an odd, less severe, less violent form of PTSD. Everything is tainted by the knowledge that my privileged alma mater is, predominantly, a way of signaling membership in the upper/middle classes.
The knowledge that if I manage to secure a job based on my education, mainly I've just circumvented the barrier to entry, met the arbitrary requirements, etc.
The way that the employment market is basically a race, but with real consequences. Coming second in the 100m sprint might be emotionally scarring, but coming second in the job interview might mean starving, having to sell your possessions, having to spend weeks 'wasted', unable to learn due to struggling to meet basic needs, etcetera.
And yet that person who finishes second in the job interview is born in the first world and thus luckier than 90% of the world's population. Is that fair? No but it's not unfair either. Everyone has a defined position in life that dictates the macro environment. Male/female. Tall/short. Handsome/not. Educated/uneducated. In general someone less fortunate than you would want you to maximize your opportunity in life because squandering it seems particularly cruel to those less fortunate.
The thing is I guess they're both right! But now you know why you dont need to worry about why your coworker is grinning in the seat next to you. He/she is viewing the same circumstance very differently. Maybe over time your view can change to (mainly because you seem so unhappy with how it currently is)