Why won't it cease to amaze me?

I have a particular problem with a certain type of person. It's common in students and generally the "everyday person on the street" and it grates on my nerves. Let me give you two examples

1. This comes from an email I received from a student yesterday, who hadn't come to class all last week. He was severely in danger of failing last semester and I could see the pattern repeating itself this semester, so I emailed him telling him I don't want a repeat of last semester. His response was to say that last week was really tough because the two sports he plays are overlapping right now and he had a lot of practices last week and three games this past weekend. Apparently this is important enough for him to not do his schoolwork (they had homework due Friday), or show up to a class that is required for his major. He's asking if he can meet with me outside of class once a week to "make sure he keeps up with everything," and quite honestly I am very close to just saying no.
   
   Quite honestly, he can come to my office whenever if he has questions, but I really do not think that because he wants to play two sports at once during the last semester of his senior year, I should have to waste my time trying to help him out. I did so last semester, only because I'm a nice guy and it was only for the last few weeks of the class. But the problem is that he wants everything to just be handed to him on a silver platter, as if he's entitled to it. This is common in a lot of students it seems (not all), and man I'm not sure how much I can handle.


2. The other story comes from the uproar here because alternate side-of-the-street parking is back in effect. As you have possibly heard, there's been a lot of snow up in these parts, and for at least the last month, parking rules went out the window (at least the ASotS and meter rules). People were all in an uproar that this was just the city's way to "stick it" to those up here in the Bronx who are struggling to survive, etc. Apparently "they didn't have time to dig out their cars."
   
   Um, it's been at least two weeks since the last major storm (after that we had more snow, sleet, and rain, but no real accumulation), and you didn't have time to dig out your car? If you didn't dig it out in two weeks, why have a car in the city? Also, one person was saying how the city should be doing that, helping, and handing out free shovels to help.
   
   I'm all for social programs, but these people obviously do not understand where this "free" stuff comes from. It's like the magic "free" water in the tap, or people who think that electric cars will solve the energy crisis.*

I have to say that while I understand that life is difficult, these people need to realize that you know what? It sucks, but it is manageable. For those like my student, sometimes you have to give up something you like to be able to do something you're required to do. For those like the populace, if you want "free" things handed out, then stop complaining about taxes going up. I'm completely fine if taxes were raised and the nation/state/city could do more for the general people, but let's see the public outcry (from the same people) then.
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* It will solve the polution problem to some degree, but the majority of our energy still comes from dirty sources like coal and oil, and where do these people think the electricity comes from? Oh that's right, the "clean" outlet in the wall.