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Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Confession Tuesday

I'm super late. And I'm writing off-the-cuff for real. I'm annoyed. I won't give you a full blown rant because whining is exactly what's bugging me.

Let's start with the blogosphere: Bloggers still whining about the them vs us controversy that started with an expressed criticism about how a panel of bloggers at BEA was presented. The core sentiment was how the group was presented and what that message meant. It was never a personal attack nor an argument about the quality of the panelists' blogs.

Seriously, people, let it go. There is real shyte going on in the world. The most ardent defenders argue that they began blogging because of their love of reading and sharing about what they've read. Then what difference does it make what a professional critic thinks of your efforts? Are you writing for the same audience? Hardly. Does someone else's opinion affect what you're going to continue doing or how you do it? Hardly. Do you think the majority of readers who have already chosen who they relate to care what someone else thinks about their reviewer of choice? Hardly.

Moving on. There are folks ragging what the President is doing or not doing for any particular group whether it's the LGBTQ community, African Americans or women, you fill in the blank. People, let's see beyond our own agendas. Anyone paying attention to Iran, North Korea or those dark folks in Africa that too many of us regard as a single country? AIDS is wiping out populations, militias are raping women and forcing children to wield guns, our planet is sick-thanks to us and we're whining about no one's paying attention to us?

Where I volunteer, residents at the shelter will routinely go off on staff (angry really because they feel powerless but they project on staff) accusing them of abusing their authority, complaining staff throws their failure in their face, curse them because the RAs have jobs and homes and they the residents don't. Well, you know what, stop it.

Shyte happens. Sometimes life sucks. But most of us and by most of us, I mean anyone who access to read this have far more to be grateful for than not. I have told the young women on ocassion: if you made it to this shelter you are far better off than the women on the streets or those stuck in one of the overcrowded, under-staffed shelters or the ones at the morgue. You aren't living under the threat of bombs or ditatorship. Put your crap in perspective.

If you've been whining lately: back up, shut up breathe. Letting go ain't easy. Living ain't easy. Would you prefer the alternative? I'm not ready to push up daisies. So let's chill.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I admire your energy and faith in change. (Me, I'm moving aside those daisies, making a place!) :--)

susan said...

Thanks, Rhapsody. :-)

Claudia said...

"Put your crap in perspective." Well said, Susan! Thanks for making me take a moment to count my blessings today.

Ello - Ellen Oh said...

Excellent post! I have 3 kids at home who whine enough for me, don't get me started with grown ups who have nothing to whine about and yet all they do is complain. I believe I am very fortunate - even having to deal with some major crises in my life - and I thank God everyday for my blessings. I think people need to focus on the good instead of the bad in their lives. And then more people can focus on helping those in real need.

Zetta Elliott said...

I'm all for putting things in perspective and there are initiatives out there to get us to stop complaining for 30 days (or more!). I do, however, want to defend everyone's right to voice their opinion on subjects that matter to them personally; there will always be chaos around the world, but as we already know, the personal is political, and interpersonal conflict (or domestic problems) may pale next to issues like global poverty, but it still matters...and learning to bring compassion and understanding to those "smaller"/local relationships can only extend to (and impact) our larger relationship to the world. Complainers, give it a rest. But as I see the Iranian government doing all it can to stifle dissent, calling the will of the people for democratic rule "whining after a sports match," I feel the need to respect vigorous debate--even if the topic seems petty to ME. I'm glad I live in a country where people are passionate debaters, even if we get stuck navel-gazing sometimes...gratitude is always the right attitude, but when you see injustice, no one should demand your silence.

susan said...

Zetta,

I'm all for vigorous debate. And our personal stuff does mattters.
I'm referring to self-indulgent whining about things that aren't all that important even in among our personal priorities.

sarah said...

Very cool post.

Lenore Appelhans said...

I'm pretty tired of that whole discussion too.