The Final Word: Belly's full? Then quit your belly-aching!
We are a nation of complainers. You only have to stand in line a short time and you'll hear some jerk go on about his sad state of affairs.
It happened to me earlier this month. I was in a long line to pick up a rental car at the West Palm Beach Airport. It took about 45 minutes, and this guy was going on and on.
"Only two agents on duty!" he said to no one in particular. And then I realized the voice sounded familiar. It was mine.
I was embarrassed, so I gave myself a little pep talk, told myself there were far worse injustices being perpetrated around the world, and calmed myself down. I finally got my car and drove away.
But it's true. We all complain far too much.
I was reminded of this the other day when I listened to all those folks on that stranded cruise ship off the coast of Mexico. The ship had a fire and lost its power. No air conditioning. No hot water.
I thought as long as they could hold on to enough ice to chill those umbrella drinks, what's the problem? They even got Spam and Pop Tarts airlifted in. Who could ask for anything more?
But no. When the passengers finally got off they were using words like "nightmare" and "pure hell" to describe their experience.
Nightmare? Obviously that guy needs to travel in the Third World more. Or at least go to Walmart the morning after Thanksgiving. Now that's a nightmare.
Plus, most people in dire situations aren't offered a refund and a free cruise as these people were. They were also handed cocktail party banter for life.
Without getting all Hallmark on you, all of us should look around and appreciate what we have, especially with Thanksgiving just around the corner.
Millions aren't so lucky. The Haitians living in tents, for instance. The Afghan women whose lives truly are living hells. The homeless men on the corner, the ones we walk by every day.
Of course, those people weren't in my line for the rental car, so it's easy to lose perspective.
One guy with perhaps the clearest world view these days is Liu Wei, the 23-year-old from Beijing who just won the first season of China's Got Talent. He's the armless piano player who plays with his toes.
He makes me ashamed of my eight years of piano lessons after which I barely managed to eke out Für Elise. And I was doing it with two arms and 10 fingers. Talk about embarrassing.
"At least I have a pair of perfect legs," he remarked after winning.
I'll never complain again.
By Craig Wilson, Courtesy of USA Today
