Whining about whining

Wow, two days in a row! Craaaazy!

I just had to whine about something: whiny people. Yes, I realize this may be counter-productive, perhaps even a paradox. But it's been bugging me, and I have to get it out.

I am so tired of people who whine all the time. I understand that crap happens, and sometimes a little whining is justified or even needed. I get venting occasionally. But what I don't get are the people who just whine all the dang time. "I don't want to be herrrrre," at work, or "I'm just so busyyyyy all the time!" "I never seem to catch a break." "I'd be happy if I could just have one normal, stress-free day."

Guess what? It's called LIFE. Stuff's going to happen to you, and you're not always going to like it, and you can't do anything to change that. What you can change is your attitude about it. I know you'd rather be at home playing video games or watching movies with your friends, but you have a job, and you need to fulfil the requirements of that job, i.e. having a good attitude and getting your stuff done. If you don't want your job anymore, I know a lot of people (9.4% of the country at last count, I believe) that would love to have it. If you don't want to get paid for something you agreed to do, then go home and let someone else take your place. You know what? I don't want to be there, either! It's work! If it wasn't work, they'd call it happy-fun-time! But I make the best of it. I smile at customers, I hum when I dust, I make jokes with my coworkers. When someone says something negative, I do my best to brush it off. When something screws up or doesn't work right, I try to fix it or wait til it works again.

Everyone is not out to get you every moment of every day. Bad things do not happen to you because you're cursed or you're unlucky or because you've done something to deserve them. Bad things happen to everybody. So if you think you're special because your life is harder than anyone else's, you are wrong. It's not. All the people I know who whine constantly have a bed with blankets and pillows to sleep on every night. They never miss meals for lack of food (just busy-ness). No one regularly beats them or abuses them. They can vote, they can walk down the street without worrying they'll be shot or blown up at any second. They have amazingly excellent lives, but because someone said something not-nice about or to them, or because times are tougher than they'd like, they seem to be unable to ever say anything positive!

And I don't understand why! You can choose to be miserable and whiny and negative all the time, and wallow in your own pity party. Or you can choose to see the glass half-full, to smile, to look forward to the good things as you endure the hard things. Why would anyone choose to be miserable? It's just beyond me.