Many of us are unhappy ??????

[azsigman]

Lets Start off this New Year with the right attitude.........

A Newsweek poll alleges that 67 percent of Americans are unhappy with the direction the country is headed and 69 percent of the country is unhappy with the performance of the president. In essence 2/3s of the citizenry just ain't happy and want a change.

So being the knuckle dragger I am, I starting thinking, ''What we are so unhappy about?''

Is it that we have electricity and running water 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? Is our unhappiness the result of having air conditioning in the summer and heating in the winter? Could it be that 95.4 percent of these unhappy folks have a job? Maybe it is the ability to walk into a grocery store at any time and see more food in moments than Darfur has seen in the last year?

Maybe it is the ability to drive from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean without having to present identification papers as we move through each state? Or possibly the hundreds of clean and safe motels we would find along the way that can provide temporary shelter? I guess having thousands of restaurants with varying cuisine from around the world is just not good enough. Or could it be that when we wreck our car, emergency workers show up and provide services to help all involved . Whether you are rich or poor they treat your wounds and even, if necessary, send a helicopter to take you to the hospital.

Perhaps you are one of the 70 percent of Americans who own a home, you may be upset with knowing that in the unfortunate case of having a fire, a group of trained firefighters will appear in moments and use top notch equipment to extinguish the flames thus saving you, your family and your belongings. Or if, while at home watching one of your many flat screen TVs, a burglar or prowler intrudes; an officer equipped with a gun and a bullet-proof vest will come to defend you and your family against attack or loss. This all in the backdrop of a neighborhood free of bombs or militias raping and pillaging the residents. Neighborhoods where 90 percent of teenagers own cell phones and computers.

How about the complete religious, social and political freedoms we enjoy that are the envy of everyone in the world? Maybe that is what has 67 percent of you folks unhappy.

Fact is, we are the largest group of ungrateful, spoiled brats the world has ever seen. No wonder the world loves the US , yet has a great disdain for its citizens. They see us for what we are. The most blessed people in the world who do nothing but complain about what we don't have and what we hate about the country instead of thanking the good Lord we live here.

I know, I know. What about the president who took us into war and has no plan to get us out? The president who has a measly 31 percent approval rating? Is this the same president who guided the nation in the dark days after 9/11? The president that cut taxes to bring an economy out of recession? Could this be the same guy who has been called every name in the book for succeeding in keeping all the spoiled brats safe from terrorist attacks? The commander-in-chief of an all-volunteer Military that is out there defending you and me?

Make no mistake about it. The troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have volunteered to serve, and in many cases have died for your freedom. There is currently no draft in this country. They didn't have to go. They are able to refuse to go and end up with either a ''general'' discharge, an ''other than honorable'' discharge or, worst case scenario, a ''dishonorable'' discharge after a few days in the brig.

So why then the flat out discontentment in the minds of 69 percent of Americans? Say what you want but I blame it on the media. If it bleeds it leads and they specialize in bad news. Everybody will watch a car crash with blood and guts. How many will watch kids selling lemonade at the corner? The media knows this and media outlets are for-profit corporations. They offer what sells. Just ask why they are going to allow a murderer like O.J. Simpson to write a book and do a TV special about how he didn't kill his wife but if he did he was insane!

Stop buying the negative venom you are fed everyday by the media. Shut off the TV, burn Newsweek and use the New York Times for the bottom of your bird cage. Then start being grateful for all we have as a country. There is exponentially more good than bad.

I close with one of my favorite quotes from B.C. Forbes in 1953:

''What have Americans to be thankful for? More than any other people on the earth, we enjoy complete religious freedom, political freedom, social freedom. Our liberties are sacredly safeguarded by the Constitution of the United States, 'the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man.' Yes, we Americans of today have been bequeathed a noble heritage. Let us pray that we may hand it down unsullied to our children and theirs.''

I suggest we sit back and count our blessings for all we have. If we don't, what we have will be taken away. Then we will have to explain to future generations why we squandered such blessing and abundance. If we are not careful this generation will be known as the ''greediest and most ungrateful generation.'' A far cry from the proud Americans of the ''greatest generation'' who left us an untarnished legacy.
If you're one of these Cry Babies------Shame on you....!

Author unknown

[Bruce FLinch]

Good Points Azsigman.
By coincidence I got a book of quotations for Christmas. I looked up Happiness. Some short quotes follow...

No human being can make another human being happy.
W.H. Auden 1962

Success is getting what you want, Happiness is wanting what you get.
Anonymous

Those who are happiest, are those who do the most for others.
Booker T. Washington 1901

Don't Worry, be Happy!

[Nighthawk]

only person who can make you happy is yourself

[islenos]

Thanks for the posting, good read

I'm simple: Happiness is a M60 with 600 rounds and a steady trigger pull

[rosierita]

Originally Posted by islenos

Thanks for the posting, good read

I'm simple: Happiness is a M60 with 600 rounds and a steady trigger pull

but of course!

Success is getting what you want, Happiness is wanting what you get.
Anonymous

i heard this ALOT from my mema growing up.

thank you for the post azsigman!

[stash247]

Azsigman said and quoted a bundle; I may need a day or two, to totally digest it.
In the meantime, entering into a new Year, I feel so gratified and blessed that the people of this fine nation support, and all but cannonise, our troops abroad!
These kids did not seek, or voluteer for a war, rather, it was thrust upon them, yet, they serve and well, without complaint.
This is a good thing. Coming home from Son Tay, I was spat upon, and worse, for my trouble, resulting in my detention, for four days, after kicking some a**, in San Francisco. Today, in the face of an unpopular war, we welcome our kids home, and honor them, as we should!
I usually rise before the sun, and value the time I have left, on this earth, as a normal waking routine.
I hope, in the coming year, to see thousands of our young and able troops come home, and stand down, for the last time, intact, and uninjured, ready to get on with their lives.
Praise God, that it happens; this old fool would go back into the foray to keep just one young man from the need to.

[White Hawk]

A Newsweek poll alleges that 67 percent of Americans are unhappy with the direction the country is headed...

Insteresting how the media instantly assumes that any unhappiness is automatically and exclusively tied to Iraq. What about the remaining 33%? Does Newsweak assume just as quickly that those 33% are happy because of the war in Iraq? I suspect that they would ask those happy people just why they are happy, because a liberal journalist is skeptical of anyone being happy during a Republican president.

Maybe if Newsweek had specified just which "direction" they were talking about. America is a big country and it's headed in a lot of directions at once. On subjects like illegal immigration, imminent domain and socialized medicine, you'll find a lot more than 67% unhappy. But with the left, everything revolves around Iraq.

While the above article makes good points about how life is in this country now, it fails to note that the country is headed away from such utopia as we speak. Unfortunately, it's the fault of both political parties, as the politicians become more and more insulated from the will and voices of the people.

Yeah, I know. I'm a real joykill. Flame me already.

[johnston3407]

What, me worry!

[Marlin T]

Or if, while at home watching one of your many flat screen TVs, a burglar or prowler intrudes; an officer equipped with a gun and a bullet-proof vest will come to defend you and your family against attack or loss. This all in the backdrop of a neighborhood free of bombs or militias raping and pillaging the residents.

I'm wondering who wrote this, a liberal? Or a left leaning conservative? The McCain type? A true conservative wouldn't have put those two lines in there.

Whom ever it was, is falling into the liberal agenda and is believing there propaganda. The police have no obligation to defend or protect me or you and the militia is a ?BAD? thing. Definitely bad.

Speaking of being happy, there is a huge difference in the contentment level between liberals and conservatives any ways. I bet that you don’t have to guess which category is happier either. This leads me to say indeed that this was a liberal that wrote it, because he is bitching about the rest of the people not being happy.