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| Maybe We Should Count Our Blessings | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jan 28 2007, 05:33 PM (149 Views) | |
| Non Hyphenated American | Jan 28 2007, 05:33 PM Post #1 |
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I got the following from an old neighbor. Her husband is a retired Chief MSgt. from the Air Force. They raised two fine children into good adults, and helped raise the rest of us in the neighborhood as well. I'd take them as neighbors any day, any time, any where. I think it is worth passing on...... The other day I was reading Newsweek magazine and came across some poll data I found rather hard to believe. It must be true given the source, right? The same magazine that employs Michael (Qurans in the toilets at Gitmo) Isikoff. Here I promised myself this week I would be nice and I start off in this way. The 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 2/3 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 U.S. 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. 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 army 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 .. insane! (How many would have watched this if it had been allowed to be televised?) 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. |
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| Almtnman | Jan 28 2007, 05:39 PM Post #2 |
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NHA, if most of those unhappy people would spend a month or so in a third world country trudging around in mucky swamps, wearing wet clothes to sleep in at night on the ground, eating their vittles out of a mess kit with the rain washing the eggs over the side while you eat, maybe they could appreciate what we have here a little more. What we have is a bunch of spoiled people that have never had it rough or bad.
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| Toothless Dawg | Jan 28 2007, 06:56 PM Post #3 |
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Ruler of the Mountain
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... and they all said, "AMEN" |
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| Condor | Jan 28 2007, 07:05 PM Post #4 |
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Ruler of the Mountain
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This bunch is bringing us to: 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. |
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| countrymouse | Jan 29 2007, 09:23 AM Post #5 |
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Ruler of the Hill
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you know, our family actually did this, sorta...we spent a year primitive camping...no tv, no computers, no toys, no washer, no dryer, no running water, no electricity....just us and the bounty of God's creation... it truly brought us closer as a family than we ever were walking the "black road"...my children did not fight, everyone worked together in harmony, the creative juices ranneth over! when we would go back to the city, it was actually very difficult to stay in a house...the kids would continually ask when could we go back to camp...it's much more difficult to watch the pain and suffering that goes on in this world when one realizes how unnecessary it really is... my brothers, i agree we are a spoiled nation, that is why so many dislike us...not because we create, but because we abuse and disrespect through our creations...we disrespect our souls, we disrespect one another, we fight, rob and kill for "possessions"...the haves vs. the have nots...the boastfulness, the jealousy, the greed, the torture of our mother earth...these are the reprecussions of our surrender to satisfaction of human desires (what too many think are "needs").... yes, we must shift the perception in this country...we create, but are we slaves to our creations? are we so grateful for our own creations that we destroy God's creation in the process? we, for now, must be grateful for all, so someday, somehow, someway, all eyes will see, all ears will hear and all souls will sing! love y'all! |
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| legitlinda | Jan 29 2007, 10:20 PM Post #6 |
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Ruler of the Mountain
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I have counted my blessings from an early age to have been born in the United States of America. We are the most generous country there is. Yes, we have problems, but we also have so many things about us that are good. We're the first to respond to those in need. We give aid to poor countries, in manpower, food, clothing, education, healthcare, money, and not to mention our Military, that gives their own blood for other countries! Here's a good article about the generosity of America: http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MDkzY...jlhZjdhOWYxMjM= January 3, 2007 12:00 AM Charitable Nation America, the generous. By Jonah Goldberg Americans are better people than Europeans. Hold on, it gets better. Religious Americans are better than non-religious Americans. And religious Americans tend to be politically conservative. This admittedly tendentious rendering of reality is how some on the right are interpreting Who Really Cares? by Arthur Brooks, a professor of public administration at Syracuse University. Brooks doesn’t really deal with what makes one person “better” or “worse” than any other. But it’s fair to say that how much a person gives — of either his money or time — is usually considered an important indicator of character. It turns out that by this yardstick alone, my little talk-radio-ready summary is basically correct. The further to the left you are — particularly to the secular left — the less likely you are to donate your time or money to charity. Imagine two demographically identical people, except that Joe goes to church regularly and rejects the idea that the government should redistribute wealth to lessen inequality, while Sam never goes to church and favors state-driven income redistribution. Brooks says the data indicate that not only is Joe Churchgoer nearly twice as likely as Sam Secularist to give money to charities in a given year, he will also give 100 times more money per year to charities (and 50 times more to non-religious ones). Because Brooks is using vast pools of data, and because he’s talking about averages rather than individuals, there is no end of exceptions to prove the rule. No doubt there are pious Scrooges and Santa-like atheists. But, basically, if you are religiously observant, a married parent, and skeptical toward the role of government, you are much more likely to be generous with your time and money. You’re also more likely to be a political conservative, but it’s a mistake to find causation in that correlation. Certain types of people are likely to be conservative and to be charitable. But being a conservative doesn’t make you charitable. Still, the partisan ammo is what has interested the Bill O’Reilly types the most — and it is interesting, since it so directly contradicts the generations-old propaganda of the left, which depicts the rich right as stingy, unfeeling and selfish. “Blue state” America spends a lot of time talking about how much more caring and enlightened it is. But that’s with somebody else’s money. When it’s their own money, that’s a different story. What’s vastly more interesting is what Brooks’s data says about America. Our charitableness is a distinct cultural artifact. America’s simply a lot more generous than most other countries. Not counting government aid, we give, per capita, three and half times more than the French, seven times more than Germans, and 14 times more than the Italians. This is not merely a byproduct of our wealth. In fact, one of the most interesting observations of the book is that the most giving Americans, measured as a share of their income, are the working poor. The rich come second and the middle class last. The difference lies in European attitudes toward God and state. Europeans have largely turned their backs on the former and consider the latter the answer to everything. Europeans defend their comparative stinginess by claiming that their outsized welfare states, and the taxes they pay into them, amount to charity. Brooks demolishes these and related assertions. But the most basic response is this: Compelling payment by others through high taxes isn’t charity. What’s interesting to me is that Europeans are uncharitable for the same reason liberal secularists tend to be. In America, as in Europe, the more you think the state should provide for everything, the less you think anybody else should provide anything. As Ralph Nader said in 2000, “A society that has more justice is a society that needs less charity.” In other words, a “just” society is one where, because the state helps everyone, people aren’t obliged to help anyone. Brooks, a cautious social scientist, doesn’t tie all this together as much as he could. Europe’s transformation into what he and others call a “post-Christian” civilization has its roots in the turn-of-the-century switch from religion to statism, when “God will provide” was replaced with “the state will.” This vision is a European import, and in many respects the history of liberalism in America is the history of Europeanization. Woodrow Wilson’s war socialism, FDR’s New Deal, Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society, and Bill Clinton’s Third Way were all proselytized as attempts to make America more like “enlightened” Europe. Maybe such a transformation would make America a better place. But the data suggests it wouldn’t make Americans better people. © 2007 Tribune Media Services, Inc. — Jonah Goldberg is Editor-at-Large of National Review Online.
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| Ali | Jan 29 2007, 10:54 PM Post #7 |
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Ruler of the Mountain
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NHA, thanks for sharing that with us. Darn good post, and I think about gratitude every day. Not long after we went to Afghanistan, there was a news clip showing a news man running along side a man who was carrying a sink. He asked him why he was carrying that sink, while running for his life ..... "it's all that I have" said the man. It made me wonder what I would run with if I had to run. Who popped a mint in their mouth before they jumped out of 102nd story window of the Trade Center? Life, Liberty and Justice. We have a reason to take certain things for granted. We are America. The land of the free, the home of the bravest of all. Freedom will ring, and we will count our blessings. |
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| Sibs | Jan 31 2007, 10:38 AM Post #8 |
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Ruler of the Hill
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NHA, great post as always. Good to see you.
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