I think we would be better off without the concept of 'deserving' altogether. I think we live in a totally material universe and things happen because of the way things are. We do things because our genetic make up and our environment have programmed us to do them. For example, I am a socialist, not because think poor and downtrodden people 'deserve' better, but because my nature and nurture make me uncomfortable living in an unequal society and I try to change it to make myself more comfortable.

It is possible to feel someone "deserves" something without meaning that they are being specifically punished by some personal or impersonal force (a deity or karma) for the particulars of their behavior. This is usually connected with some concept of "natural consequences". You smoke, you get cancer (or more accurately, are more likely to get certain kinds of cancers). In that sense you brought the cancer upon yourself, although I'd maintain that if a person knew the risks and decided to "roll the dice" because they enjoy smoking so much, then all that happened is that they lost the roll of the dice while exercising their right to choose how to live.

To literally "deserve" something you have to have some authoritarian Enforcer -- be it god or government or society in some more informal sense -- visiting the consequences upon you, presumably after due and fair judgment (though in practice, often after undue and unfair judgment based on bad information or conclusions).

In general this mindset is not really helpful. A practical example is that a local charity here that provides free clothing and other assistance to the indigent, is one of several organizations that the department of social services refers people to, according to need. So the flow is that you apply for government assistance and they refer you to various government and non-government resources accordingly. But this organization I'm acquainted with, I'm told, finds that some people "wear out their welcome" with DSS because of things like addiction issues where they fail to comply or use of "free chances" so to speak and end up in a situation where the government won't even talk with them anymore. Hoping, I suppose, to shame them into compliance.

The "right" thing to do in this organization's view is to meet human needs where and when they are, without judgment. They have made a decision not to withhold services because the person "isn't deserving" or is non-compliant or not moving along some path of redemption. A human need is a human need. You don't leave someone to freeze on the street because they are a repeat offender with substance abuse or because they are mentally ill and not getting better.

The science is that complex behavioral challenges don't respond to carrots or sticks like one would intuitively think they would. Rote mechanical / physical tasks do, like running a faster race. But complex behavioral changes require that a person feel agency, personal freedom, and mastery. These are tied to respect and human dignity, and you don't feel respected and dignified when someone is telling you to shape up or else, or punishing you. Such people need encouragement and kindness and space to see their rational self interest. Or in the alternative, they need our compassion to ease their way, without judgment or a demand of progress on our terms.

It's a judgment call made by someone usually for someone else, often involving a sense of wanting revenge, or "justice" for something negative they did. Or believing good things should come to someone for good deeds.

But this belief seems to depend on a higher power executing these judgments.

Is a meaning confined between mercy and cruelty ... and between justice and injustice ...But if the judge, has Provide evidence, that the offender deserves to executed ... this is justice ... but (deserves ) here we put it part of mercy or cruelty?

The term "deserve" surely means different things to different people. For example, I have a friend who shot his housemate while he slept, because the housemate left a mess in the kitchen after making a midnight sandwich.

My friend thought his housemate "deserved" to be taught a lesson, by shooting him in the chest and face while he slept. The court, in turn, decided my friend "deserved" up to 20 years in prison, when he was sentenced this past Thursday. Which person deserved what and how much?

We each decide our own actions and deliver our rewards or penalties to our own satisfaction. We each likely feel we deserve an easier life than we get -- and part of the experience of life is in figuring out how we can get that easier life.

No one said "life is fair" so good question. Here's another was the world better when you were born than now?

If I understand the definition as being worthy of... IMO the phrase They deserve/d it. Or I deserve.. is a judgement call. It can be a positive or negative outcome based on an action or acts that should have some outcome. Its like I did X and I should get or have Y.
I think plenty of people deserve things but it is my opinion.

The general consensus is that deserve is defined as being worthy of something, either good or bad. All the comments listed are good examples of different ways deserve can be used to convey a particular meaning. Some, like the comment about the millenials, show how it can be used to express the idea that someone feels entitled. In other cases, like if I said to my dog after a good day, you deserve a treat, it can show that someone earned something through either good behavior or hard work. In the case of the aforementioned child, it is used to express the idea that all things are worthy of some basic dignity at the very least. All are a different spin on the same root meaning. To be worthy.

Many think that others "deserve" bad things. Especially if they have killed someone or done bad things, but it is getting to where they think badly of you if you seem to have it better than they do. I know an idiot who wants me to loan him money just because he can't manage his money. If I did that then I wouldn't have any money. I think he admires and hates me at the same time. Is that possible? He keeps trying to tell me stories of the electric company shutting off his power. I stop him and ask if he owed them money how is he going to tell this story and have me be on his side? He gets more money than I do. He "deserves" this.

To me, anyone who is willing to work hard and play by the rules deserves to be able to put food on the table, pay the bill's, have a decent roof over their head, drive a modest vehicle and be able to take a nice two week vacation once a year. All without having to worry about money.

I think maybe it means if one has worked hard toward something, maybe even sacrificed for a goal, that they are deserving of the reward or situation they seek.

For me, I put up with a lot, sacrificed a good portion of my life, built a reputation and I feel I deserve the happiness I am living now.

For some, they perhaps also worked hard, but maybe should come to terms and reconcile some things before truly being deserving of the goal they seek. Honesty and compassion can erase some mistakes made along the way.

The most common way it’s used these days is to belittle millennials.

Millennials think they deserve to not be a wage slave, and still live in poverty.

Generation Z thinks millennials don’t deserve what they ensured didn’t survive past their generation.

You can put that in really any catagory. Talking about "unearned privelage". Reperations for slavery, or for Natives? All different topics.