Carbless Happiness

Well, it’s not that I haven’t been thinking. Instead, I’ve been working. All of the time. Working. And I realize that I’m just as susceptible to the hysteria of the day, as it pounds itself into my head. However, I’m growing tired of the middle class whine (which whining appears to have a significant effect on our children’s perception of what they want in life). It’s starting to grate on my soul. I teach a Sunday school class, one of the most fulfilling parts of my week, and we discussed personal goals, poverty, humility, and just what it is we want from life. Not one girl or boy in my class had ever experienced poverty (not even close), but at the same time not one told me they would like to live in poverty (being poor sucks…being rich is awesome, right class!). Who would right? Who wants to beg for their next meal? Who wants to worry that their children don’t have clothing, medicine, food, shelter, and the means to provide some modern comfort to themselves and to their family? No one. No one wants it to be difficult. No one wants to fall down. No one wants to lose. No one wants to be sick. No one wants to ~pick another thing that you can choose to not want~…funny how that works. Which is where the middle class whine is shown to be the childish notion that it is.

What is the middle class whine? Just turn on Dateline (or any program that uses sensational headlines to encourage your viewer ship). From the water we drink, to the latest foreclosures, the world is about to end…apparently. We are in a recession! Ah!!! Our country is breaking down one bridge at a time! It’s the gays! It’s California! It’s the lack of morals! The end of the World is at hand!!! I’ve heard people pine for the 1950’s…seriously, the 1950’s! Are we that stupid? If I didn’t know better, I would believe that Ahmadinejad was at my very doorstep attempting to force me to convert or die the infidel death. In fact, there is delicious irony in every headline. “Americans are Stuck Staycationing; How Long Will It Last?” Whine. Whine. Whine. Oh poor us. Let’s all cry together. Let’s get it out. “It’s not fair! Mom!!!!"

It’s sick. It really is. We whine about the very things that make us a blessed State in the world. Consider our literal fortunes that we spend on our whining on a daily basis; think through that again. We whine away our spending. Consider the ease of entrepreneurship that exists here. Consider how free we are to act on this world and to change it, instead of being acted on and changed by it. Yes, working is tough. Yes, debt sucks. Yes, we’d like to see more of our friends and less of our co-workers (well, I guess that depends on your co-workers…). But the next time you grab McDonalds on the way to the movies, after filling up your car for the week, once you left your kids with your babysitter, to see the Batman, the Dark Knight or to grab a drink with your buddies without fear of religious and social induced persecution or death, consider the blessed life you lead.

Two oceans and a whole hell of a lot of guns protect you and me from the end of the world. But that’s just it. That is what has made America possible. Individuals like you and me that want to be free and we will damn the country to hell that ever tries to take that away. So, stop whining. Whether you believe in God or not, you have been blessed to be part of this country, at this time in the world’s history (yes, even with George Bush as our president and his ridiculous lackey mentality). No matter what the revisionists claim, it has never been more wonderful to be an American than it is today. Can we commit to stop whining and supporting the cultural machines that take advantage of our irrational pessimism? Write to talk show hosts. Write to newspapers. Turn off that television. Avoid the hour-by-hour slanted historical narrative that can be found on cnn.com, msnbc.com, and foxnews.com (ew, that will be tough).

Here is my shoulder. Let's cry on it. Let's talk about how terrible life is now that we have to cancel our cell phones, our cable, and our high speed internet so we don't go too far into debt...or maybe we should just grow up a little bit more. Yeah - that's it. If we could just mature a little bit every day, we might stop complaining about how it sucks to have such a grand opportunity in life.

stop...Okay. My whine is done.