One of the most annoying aspects of people who endeavor to have an opinion about things these days is that they tend to just bitch and whine about how awful everything is even when, as best I can tell, they lead pretty decent lives. They aren't stupid either. It led me to post this in a thread on CB...
I don't believe there has been any time in human history as interesting and transformational as the one we're in now, save perhaps for the Industrial Revolution. When I graduated from college 15 years ago, no one had cell phones, let alone instant access to almost any piece of information in the world.
And while the Chinese are fighting for access to that information, Americans squander it by believing any ridiculous sound bite about the people we elect, making asinine generalizations about a billion people and their religion, and not learning about how to take care of their fat ass so they can get strapped in to Millennium Force. You want to be annoyed with something? Be annoyed with that, because at least those are things we can control and do something about. No president, congressman or asshole on TV are going to change that.
I sincerely believe that. So much energy is put in to whining, hating and being pissy, in one of the most fantastic times to be alive, ever. It's completely ridiculous.
And it's not just about politics or the topic of the day. I see it at work, too. People go on and on bitching about Steve Ballmer. Seriously? What day to day decision that he makes is really affecting anyone unless he chooses to shut down a product group? About zero. Concentrate on making the product you do influence the best it can be, because that's what you can control.
I realize the economy still generally sucks, but what are you going to do about it? I don't want to hear, "Whatever, you're 'lucky' and work at Microsoft." Bite me. This is the longest I've been at a job in more than two years, and in that time I was "self-employed" for half of it, not taking a dime of unemployment. Diana had to sell her house as a short-sale and mine has been on the market nine months. Don't f'ing lecture me about the economy. I did something about it, as best I could given the situation.
We have it so good in this country. Technology has enabled us in ways we could not have envisioned even ten years ago. The looming energy crisis is spawning new businesses and technology. Movies can potentially be whatever a director dreams up. I can talk to people anywhere in the world, and see their face, using a 3.5 pound laptop, without wires. Hundreds of photos of my baby are shared instantly with my family. I drive a car that gets 57 mpg. In the last year I've been able to ride roller coasters, see faces carved into a mountain, sip drinks on a beach and have a camp fire under thousands of stars. And best of all, my 40-year-old wife was able to safely give birth to a perfect baby boy. Most of this was inconceivable when I was born, and yet, here we are.
Let the bullshit go. You're missing your fucking life.
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