The Happy Medium
By Four Walls
@FourWalls (86615)
United States
March 10, 2016 8:46pm CST
Part of my part-time job involves taking an inventory of books in our company. I like that because it makes me feel as if I'm using my library degree. 
I found a book in the stash called A Complaint-Free World by Will Bowen. It looked interesting, so I thought I'd take a copy home (we have 32 in the book room) and read it.
There are people in this world -- and I'm sure you know some -- who live to gripe. Hand them the world on a silver platter and they'll complain that the platter isn't gold, it's oblong instead of round, and/or you didn't throw the moon and Mars in as well.
The polar opposite of that is what this book seems to espouse. It opens with a quote from Maya Angelou: If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. Don't complain. In other words, milquetoast 101.
There has to be a happy medium. I refer to it as "choose your battles."
There are things we must complain about. Otherwise, they'll never change. If it weren't for complaints we'd still have polluted cities, gas-guzzling cars, carcinogenic building supplies like asbestos, and no laws to protect children. So that spousal abuse law didn't pass? Angelou said, "Don't complain." I say, no, jump up and down and complain! There's a line in James Taylor's song "Shower the People" that says, "I think it's true what they say about the squeaky wheel always getting the grease."
I don't complain about everything. The things I do complain about, however, are close to my heart and vitally important. I am an advocate for shaping up the Department of Veterans Affairs. That's partially because I'm a disabled veteran and it affects me, but it's also because my brother is a disabled veteran and it affects him. Also, I have two friends who have each suffered the horrible pain of seeing their loved ones die by their own hand because of the ineptness of the VA and the VA's unwillingness to help veterans with PTSD. (It took the VA until 1991 to acknowledge and begin treating the cancers, lung illnesses, and other issues brought about by using Agent Orange in Vietnam!) That's more important to me than whether McDonald's is using low fat milk or fat free milk in their ice cream.
A friend of mine shared a blog from a local minister on Facebook a couple of years ago. He asked people to remember what they were complaining about a year ago. That's a good point: most of the things we complain about are fleeting and inconsequential, at best.
My take-away from this book is that it's advisable to not complain about "everything," but you can't realistically be "complaint-free."
So pick your fights wisely.
I found a book in the stash called A Complaint-Free World by Will Bowen. It looked interesting, so I thought I'd take a copy home (we have 32 in the book room) and read it.
There are people in this world -- and I'm sure you know some -- who live to gripe. Hand them the world on a silver platter and they'll complain that the platter isn't gold, it's oblong instead of round, and/or you didn't throw the moon and Mars in as well.
The polar opposite of that is what this book seems to espouse. It opens with a quote from Maya Angelou: If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. Don't complain. In other words, milquetoast 101.
There has to be a happy medium. I refer to it as "choose your battles."
There are things we must complain about. Otherwise, they'll never change. If it weren't for complaints we'd still have polluted cities, gas-guzzling cars, carcinogenic building supplies like asbestos, and no laws to protect children. So that spousal abuse law didn't pass? Angelou said, "Don't complain." I say, no, jump up and down and complain! There's a line in James Taylor's song "Shower the People" that says, "I think it's true what they say about the squeaky wheel always getting the grease."
I don't complain about everything. The things I do complain about, however, are close to my heart and vitally important. I am an advocate for shaping up the Department of Veterans Affairs. That's partially because I'm a disabled veteran and it affects me, but it's also because my brother is a disabled veteran and it affects him. Also, I have two friends who have each suffered the horrible pain of seeing their loved ones die by their own hand because of the ineptness of the VA and the VA's unwillingness to help veterans with PTSD. (It took the VA until 1991 to acknowledge and begin treating the cancers, lung illnesses, and other issues brought about by using Agent Orange in Vietnam!) That's more important to me than whether McDonald's is using low fat milk or fat free milk in their ice cream.
A friend of mine shared a blog from a local minister on Facebook a couple of years ago. He asked people to remember what they were complaining about a year ago. That's a good point: most of the things we complain about are fleeting and inconsequential, at best.
My take-away from this book is that it's advisable to not complain about "everything," but you can't realistically be "complaint-free."
So pick your fights wisely.3 people like this
2 responses
@teamfreak16 (43579)
• Denver, Colorado
11 Mar 16
Apparently, the Colorado Springs VA clinic has been fudging the figures for their wait times. I've never had a problem, but other veterans have.
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (86615)
• United States
11 Mar 16
If the information online is correct, there's about 1.8 doctors per 1,000 vets here. So, what they do in order to keep from having to pay for outside doctors (there was a law passed a couple of years ago that said if they can't get you an appointment within 30 days then you go to a "civilian" doctor and the VA pays for it), is double and even triple book appointments. The other reason for that is they claim that 40-50% of the appointments aren't kept ("no-shows") so they have a one in two chance of the appointment being opened. Yeah, that works in some places, but not in heavily-utilized clinics like PT and ENT (extremely busy here, probably due to the allergies). They need to do something to punish the people who aren't showing up, not the ones who are. My "civilian" doctors have a $25 fee for no-shows, so maybe the VA should do that. (I suggested that and the person I said it to said, "How are we going to collect it?" I replied, "Deduct it from the monthly pension.")
Our VA also has this wonderful little policy of robbing us. They are deducting $18 a month from our travel expenses. Instead of getting a $6.64 check for travel, I got two checks for 64 cents each...and you know it cost $10-$20 to cut that 64 cent check!
1 person likes this
@teamfreak16 (43579)
• Denver, Colorado
11 Mar 16
@FourWalls - Really? They're deducting for mileage? Wow.
@celticeagle (189820)
• Boise, Idaho
11 Mar 16
Sure we need to say something about things we don't like. But we don't have to do it in a negative way. I think we all have things we don't like but we have to test the waters and see which way works. Maneuver in such a way that our efforts are felt. They don't always have to be heard.
Look what has recently happened with The Wounded Warrior Project. It is an afront to what I believe America should be. Using this money in such a way.
1 person likes this
