Why the Long Face?

The other day I was tuned into one of the cable news channels (OK, Fox) and watched as poll data was shared, and after thinking about it, found it hard in a real world sense to understand. 

The poll alleged that 49 percent of Americans are unhappy with the direction the country is headed, and 51 percent of the country is unhappy with the performance of the President.  In essence, half of the citizenry just ain't happy and want a change.

So with a Right Brain and a Left Heart, I started thinking, ''What are we 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 91 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, and even send a helicopter to take you to the hospital if needed.

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 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 or pillaging, and 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 49 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 such 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 L-rd we live here.

I know, I know. What about this President who couldn’t lead his way out of a paper bag with a flashlight and scissors? Or that the President has tried to shove everything from Socialist healthcare to same sex marriage down our throats whether we like it or not. Or the Congress, who on any given Sunday make Ali Baba and his band of thieves look like a bunch of amateurs.

Well when last I checked, no Congressmen was waiting at my door this morning, keeping me from going to work, and no U.S. Senator hid the keys to my car when I was out looking for work, I was by right as an American citizen, free to make every effort I had the strength for, to better my own lot.

So why then the flat-out discontentment in the minds of 49 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 on a “dash-cam”, but 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, and when criticized, try to defend their actions by 'justifying' them in one way or another. If you don’t believe me, let me suggest the following:

On May 24, 2011 Attorneys for Casey Anthony offered opening arguments in their successful bid to defend their Client before Judge Belvin Perry.  42 days later, a jury of her “peers” found Ms. Anthony not guilty of a crime that most in America believed she committed.  As tragic as that verdict was to many, what I find more damming of us as a people is that in those seven short weeks, 73 American service men and women lost their lives in the deserts of Afghanistan, and while the names of Casey, Caylee, and Jose Baez will linger through the year, I doubt if any of you could name just one of those fallen heroes.

Stop buying the negativism 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.

Yes we will change the President.  Yes we will climb out of this slump.  Yes we will bring America back to a time when hard work, character, and patriotism was what made this country a success.  We will I pray, do it this time without the racism, segregation, bigotry, and anti-Semitism that so pervaded the underbelly of our Parents America, but we will do it.  We are Americans, and that’s just what we do!

We are among the most blessed people on Earth, and should thank G-d every day for being born in this, the greatest country ever.  Chin up and chest out America, we’ve done it before, and we can do it again!