Noteworthy article in today's paper

I thought this was a great point - had to share.

Why are the spoiled brats so unhappy?
Charles Slaughter
Special to the Express-News

A recent Newsweek poll alleges 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, two-thirds of the citizenry just ain't happy and want a change.

What are we so unhappy about?

Is it that we have electricity and running water 24 hours a day, seven days a week? 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 and see more food in moments than Darfur has seen in the past 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 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, 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. This should make you very unhappy ... only 70 percent? Horrible.

Or while at home watching one of your many flat screen TVs, in the backdrop of a neighborhood free of bombs or militias raping and pillaging the residents, your child is one of 90 percent of teenagers who own cell phones or a computer. Pathetic!

How about the complete religious, social and political freedoms we enjoy that are the envy of everyone in the world?

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. Here 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 what we do have.

What about our lousy president with his 31 percent approval rating who took us into war and has no plan to get us out? Is this the same president who guided the nation in the dark days after 9-11? The president who cut taxes to bring an economy out of recession?

Could this be the same guy who has succeeded 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 no draft in this country. They didn't have to go. They are there in harm's way and need support, not criticism.

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. The media strongly dislike our president and, unfortunately, make no bones about it.

Stop buying the negative venom you are fed every day 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 suggest we sit back and count our blessings. If we don't, what we have will be taken away. Then we will have to explain to future generations why we squandered such blessings 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.