Quit your Whining!

by Don Harkey

As our President once again predicts the doom of America pending a another new action by the government (this time health care), hundreds of thousands of people risk their lives to be heard in Iran. The contrast is deafening.

At some point, we have all forgotten our history, both from our past and the history in the making. The average person in America leads a very comfortable life. If you get hurt, you can walk into a hospital and get world class health care regardless of your ability to pay for it. American's lap the rest of the world in charitable giving. While Walmart is not the ideal place to work, it employs hundreds of thousands of Americans and provides us with the most efficient food distribution system ever created on the planet (without government intervention).

We have developed into a culture of whiners that evolved from "give us a chance to survive" to "we have a right to health insurance and chicken nuggets". We have suddenly taken a joke from a talk show host as being intolerable and we stand in flood waters waiting for the government to help us. We whine about the lack of leadership in America and ask for "change", although we don't know what "change" means. We blame others for mistakes and take credit for successes.

I don't know about you, but I am going to focus on the next steps. I am going to start by thanking God for what I have. Then I am going to find a way to continue to create and sell real value to others so that I can lead a fulfilling and, yes, fruitful life. I am going to continue to work with people who are humble enough to blame failure on themselves while giving credit to others for success.

It's time for a dose of reality. The country we live in is the best system of government ever devised. If you aren't sure about that, start studying. Learn about the theories bounced around by our Founding Fathers. Learn about why our government was not designed as a true democracy. Learn about how every attempt at socialism fails miserably and why. Get some perspective.

If you are an Iranian protesting the "election" of a ruthless and evil man, you are not worried about the cost of health care. You are worried about whether your picture is being taken at the rally. You are worried about whether you or your family will get shot. You are worried that your religious views might not match those of the "supreme leader" and the consequences of this. This is quite a hole to dig out of... they probably wish they worried about who got voted off the island.

Get a grip America and let's get back to work!