Think You've Got Problems? Get Some Perspective

Lately I'm thinking we're becoming a society of whiners and complainers. Instead of working hard to solve real problems, we create drama out of thin air, gripe about being offended, and bitch and moan over the littlest things.

I mean, how did we ever get this way?

1. Maybe the internet, social media, and the blogosphere did this to us by providing the illusion that people out there actually give a crap about our problems when, in reality, it's all just distraction so they don't have to deal with their own issues. Same as with reality TV.
2. Perhaps it's our educational system that rewards baseline mediocrity and conformity instead of competitive individualism. That would certainly resonate with the obsessive media drumbeat over Gen Y and Gen X.
3. As for our elected officials in Washington, they've certainly set the bar low when it comes to petty finger-pointing, blaming, threatening, name-calling, and more or less acting out like little children that don't get their way. And these are our nation's leaders. It's embarrassing. Really.
4. Then there are all these partisan barbs we hurl at each other, verbal guided missiles like sense of entitlement, corporate greed, holding the nation hostage, and economic terrorism. What does that accomplish besides inflame an already contentious situation?

Yeah, I know I'm ranting, but it's not as if I'm immune to this either. We're all part of the problem. Come to think of it, I think we're all either a little too close to our own mini-dramas or we're paying too much attention to everyone else's to avoid our own problems.

Either way, the solution is to get some perspective. That's right, you can start by stepping away from the computer, putting down the smartphone, shutting down Facebook and Twitter, shutting off Real Housewives, and thinking about what's really bugging you. Seriously.

Think you've got problems?

Scared about the economy. Kids don't listen. Slow internet connection. Got a whole week of s**t work ahead of you. Coworker's got it in for you. Spouse won't reel-in the spending. Washington won't reel-in the spending. Micromanaging boss. Hate your job.

Well, join the club, but I've got to tell you, it's getting pretty crowded in here. Besides, those aren't problems. These are problems:

• You run a small construction business, had to lay everyone off, lost a few toes to diabetes and are supposed to rest for 3 months, but if you don't get out and work, you'll be out on the street.
• Your hard drive crashes and you've got no backup for your life's work.
• The company stock you were counting on for retirement got wiped out because a dysfunctional CEO took dumb risks he shouldn't have taken.
• Your wife has a supposedly benign tumor removed and it turns out to be cancer.
• You lost your job six months ago, nobody's hiring, you're just about out of dough, and the bills are due.
• You come home from a trip expecting to find your husband, but all you find is a bedside note and an empty closet.
• You wait too long to have kids and now the doctor says you can't.
• A fire or flood wipes out everything you own.
• You have a too much to drink, try to drive home, wake up with a big fat hangover in a jail cell.
• Your back surgery was badly botched by a whacko surgeon who did an unapproved procedure, the insurance company won't pay the hospital bills, the doctor's gone belly up, and you're in chronic pain.

Now that I've written this, it's starting to sound remarkably like why can't we all just get along? You know, one of those lines we all throw out to diffuse a ridiculously overheated argument and get everyone to calm down, smile, and get a little perspective.

Yup, that's exactly what we all need right now. A little perspective. At least that's what I think. How about you?

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