I strongly dislike constant complaining and since I hail from the Margaree area, a very small group of tight-knitted communities, it is fair to say that I have heard enough of it. There isn’t much work in my area and there isn’t much for those who live there, either; restaurants, motels and stores keep closing up shop for different reasons, leaving a bunch of empty buildings around. After these buildings are closed up, I hear a slew of complaints about how good old Margaree is struggling, once again. Even the businesses that are still running are closed in my little hamlet by 6 P.M. most evenings, so things become pretty slow on your average night.
Being of strong belief in the co-op model, I can’t help but wonder if a few more co-ops might do my community some good because there are very few individuals who can afford to re-establish, let alone establish, a business in this area; anyway, that’s for another blog sometime because I could go on on that for a while.
What I am getting at is this: there are lots of complaints. In regards to stuff shutting down and just really being unsatisfied: I really think people need to try and grasp a more positive way of thinking because any situation in life has to do with our attitude towards it; this is something important that I have learned in my 19 years of life up to this point.
Complaining happens; we all do it and I guess it’s just a way of getting frustration out by times, but I’m not a fan of how people present themselves as such unhappy people and then do nothing to try and lift themselves up. If you’re not happy, do something about it; otherwise, I guess you can continue on your merry way!
It isn’t only negative complaints without positive action bother me, either, but also complaints without background information. I am guilty of complaining about things that I just didn’t have enough information about to actually complain about, but some cases are just plain crazy. The other day while I was at work, a group of men stood in a circle and talked about how young people are lazy and don’t do anything with themselves other than go on the computer; they also mentioned how our community used to raise good workers but that kids weren’t even ambitious enough nowadays to be good workers. Meanwhile, what am I doing? Working and trying to my darn best too. Sure, there are lazy people out there, but there always have been. I am VERY pro-youth and that’s one of the main reasons I volunteer with ACYL, so with this being said, I am not a fan of stereotypes and I don’t like when all young people are shoved under an umbrella; I have seen far too many stereotypes broken to believe in them anymore. There are exceptions to the "rules" and you could be surprised at how many exceptions to the "rules" there are if you simply take some time to stop complaining and simply think that young people could be doing some good and working hard.
Complaints deserve fair background information and positive action, in my opinion, because if not, you’re just using up air that you’ll never get back for the sake of using it. Take a step back, look around and step back in to do something about it and to help.
"All men dream but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes to make it possible."
- T.E. Lawrence