Want Cheese With That Whine?

When Sean was 3 or 4, he was grousing about something when I asked if he wanted cheese to go with his whine. “But it’s not lunchtime,” he shot back. Asked the same question a couple years later, Duncan, dumbfounded, said, “Dad, you know I’m not old enough to drink.” Smarter comments than the shit I hear from a lot of adults.

Mood music:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IjXhvToGgI&fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0]

This post is about whining and hypocrisy.

For much of my adult life, I’ve had a low tolerance for people who whine about every little thing. I say adult life, because as a teenager all I did was whine.

Facebook has become a favorite hangout for people with lives packed with drama, and they whine on their profile pages with complete abandon. I see those messages and I get all high and mighty, telling whoever will listen that these folks should keep their crying to themselves.

Recently, a friend from work marveled at how little I whine about things. He said something about how I’m one of the most optimistic people he’s ever met.

I am an optimist. After all I’ve been through, I’ve found the ability to see the silver lining around every cloud.

But I’ll be honest: Sometimes it’s all just an act.

I try to keep the optimistic face and only show people the confident, been-there-done-that-no-big-deal side of me. Sure, I spend a lot of time in this blog pointing out my weaknesses and failures, but I do it for the sake of testifying as to who I used to be and how I became the guy I am today. That requires taking a rigorous moral inventory of one’s self. Otherwise, I try to keep the happy face bolted on tight.

When I write about how life is so much better now that I’ve learned to (mostly) manage the OCD and related addictions, I mean every word. I’m one of the luckiest guys on Earth.

But that doesn’t mean things go smoothly every day.

Sometimes I still let the worries get the better of me. And when that happens, I whine. Just like all those Facebook friends I mocked earlier.

I’m trying hard as hell not to be a Facebook whiner, though. In fact, those folks are pissing me off today.

When someone deletes me from their facebook friends list, it’s usually because my constant flow of links and other content is too much for them. I get that. No offense taken. Or, they don’t like some of the spiritual believes I express in this blog from time to time. That’s fine.

But hopefully, I never drive people away for whining.

It seems there’s a lot of whining on Facebook, lately. There’s always been a lot of that on Facebook, but it is the dead of winter, and that makes people whiney times 10. This morning’s complaint is the cold. Last week it was the Patriots. Wednesday it’ll be because of more snow.

Then there are folks who just have to tell you how lonely they are, or how people at work are bitches, or how they’re sick of someone’s drama. I especially like that last one, because those who say it usually live a pretty dramatic life themselves.

Someone was on Twitter yesterday talking about his wife’s “twat ring.” I would have been perfectly fine going on with my life without that information.

Like I said, I give people more than enough reason to block me sometimes, but I’ll at least try to keep it out of the gutter.

If you ever see me fail, unfriend or unfollow me.

And to everyone else: Stop bitching about the cold and get back to work. It’s January. There’s cold and snow in January.

If you live in Arizona or Florida and you experience cold and snow, I’ll give you a pass. This time.