Quit Comparing and Complaining

Like most of the rest of the modern world, I regularly find myself spending too much time on Facebook. Today’s over-indulgence has resulted in this post.

Toward the end of the last presidential election cycle, I went thru my FB feed, and un-followed everyone who was doing nothing but complaining about the other side’s candidate. This included much-loved family members; I didn’t disassociate myself from them, just stopped getting their posts.

The result was near-magic. Overnight, my feed transformed from whining, crying and screaming into positivity, hopefulness and fun posts. It was great! I got exposed to a lot of people I’d never even heard of before, and tons of new resources (read: more websites to visit) to use.

Alas, it seems that nothing good can last. Lately, I’ve noticed that the pendulum seems to be swinging back in the other direction. The way it’s happening is via posts that are comparing the way something is done, isn’t done, should be done, could be done, used to be done in the United States to how it’s done somewhere else.

Everybody has their own opinion on things. I get that. And I don’t begrudge anyone of it. But when I start feeling inundated with complaining, I want to lash out. Or at least ask those who feel compelled to tell me how terrible life is here why they stay. They’re not really trying to fix anything. They’re just whining.

The particular post that set me to writing compares breakfast in the US to breakfast in Europe. I don’t even need to read the content (I didn’t) to know it’s just a bashfest. Been there. Done that. No t-shirt.

A similar wave is the “You’ve been eating bananas wrong all your life!” nonsense. Or tying your shoes; or brushing your teeth; or even using the toilet! REALLY? The difference between this type of post and the former, is that this is trying to sell something, so they get a pass, of sorts. Marketing is about drawing attention to something, and if this works, I guess we’ll just keep seeing more of it.

But the tantrum-throwing posts? Nah. The older I get, the less tolerance I have for it. You don’t like something? Do something about it, or shut up. Otherwise, you’re not contributing to the common good, though you might think otherwise.

And don’t try to say you’re raising awareness. Is it news to anyone here that we eat processed foods all the time? Or that they’re not the healthiest choice for our bodies? Psssst… Everybody already knows. They’ve made their choice. Now why don’t you go make yours and quit pointing fingers at the rest of us?

Excuse me while I go clean out the Facebook trash.  Again.