We've become a nation of world class pissers and moaners. We whine about everything, but rarely have anything constructive to offer. Why is that? I think it's because we've forgotten how to...umm...THINK! We're seldom challenged to think. We just turn on the TV and let Rush or Rachael, Fox News or MSNBC or CNN or whoever, spoon feed us what they feel we should know, what we need to think. No muss, no fuss. We just nod obediently and then head to the water cooler where we regurgitate all our newly found "wisdom". We don't seem to cross check what we're told, looking for a different perspective.
I throw out ideas and people quickly pile on with their (sometimes snarky) criticism, but when asked to suggest an alternative idea for consideration, all I hear is _____________. They should take lessons from my wife, K. In our almost 9 years of marriage she's offered many alternative ideas that, quite frankly, made more sense than mine, and my position then changed. She helped me grow. I LIKE people to disagree with me, so long as they can offer something else for me to ponder. If I only wanted to hear from people who agreed with me, I'd just talk to myself in front of a mirror. *ewww*
A current hot topic illustrates this: gun violence in America. We all agree, including me, it's out of control. Yet the only solution I've heard offered is the same old thing the NRA and (mostly) Republicans have shot down (pun intended) over and over and over before. Can anyone think outside the box and find something that might show results, yet be palpable to the NRA and their front men? Can anyone today think constructively?
We need more creative thinkers like Candice Lightner. She's the California woman who lost her 13 year old daughter back in 1985 to a hit-and-run drunk driver. We already had laws against drunk driving, but she felt more was needed, so she founded Mothers Against Drunk Driving, or MADD. Since then she has shamed many legislators into voting for tougher laws and more stringent enforcement, shamed many who have had one too many to call a taxi, and no doubt saved many lives. Constructive thinking!
We need more people like John Walsh. After his little son, Adam, was abducted from a Florida mall and killed back in 1981, John went on to start the TV show America's Most Wanted, which has helped apprehend over 1200 child predators and rescued over 50 kids. Constructive thinking!
Somebody had to come up with the idea of Meals on Wheels, and grow food banks out of local soup kitchens. Constructive thinking! So, OK, these people all must have had supercharged personalities, and you don't.
Can you not volunteer with your city? To my knowledge most have plenty of openings for volunteers to work on Creative Arts Commissions, Planning and Zoning Commissions, Senior Affairs Commissions, Civil Service Commissions, or maybe deliver some of those Meals On Wheels or help at an animal shelter. Expose yourself to something new. Learn. THINK.
Please come visit me here often. Agree or disagree, I don't care. But be prepared to show me why my thinking is flawed if you believe it is, and give me something else to consider. But to just come here and whine, then go back to your room in mama's basement to live off your public assistance is doing no one a favor. We don't need any more people using up valuable air.
S
