Remember the old saying…”April showers bring May flowers?” Or, how about the counter-saying…”Rain, rain, go away, come back another day?” You just can’t please some people. Sometimes it seems like our national pastime is griping and complaining, about almost everything. All of us who are OCS graduates can remember the Gripe-Ladder looking like this: The soldiers gripe about the NCOs, the NCOs gripe about the Junior Officers who then gripe about those Battalion guys, the Field Grades gripe about the Higher-Ups who then gripe about the Generals who, in-turn, gripe about the Pentagon.

In civilian life it seems to be open season on everyone. When something is not exactly as we think it should be we are often too quick to gripe at whoever is in charge. So, we gripe at politicians, they gripe about each other, the Congress gripes about the President who then gripes about Congress, democrats and republicans gripe about each other and citizens of any state will tend to gripe about the Governor and any other leader there. In our different localities we are tempted to gripe at restaurants and stores if they do not meet OUR expectations. Those of us who served in the Army often view civilian society as being mediocre; lacking excellence in performance of their particular tasks. When you look around almost everyone seems to be unhappy about something. Remember the Kingston Trio? They did a song in the 60s entitled: The Merry Minuet. The first verse outlines the problem well:

“They’re rioting in Africa, they’re starving in Spain
There’s hurricanes in Florida, and Texas needs rain.
The whole world is festering with unhappy souls
The French hate the Germans, the Germans hate the Poles
Italians hate Yugoslavs, South Africans hate the Dutch
AND I DON’T LIKE ANYBODY VERY MUCH.”

I’ve heard it said that on this planet we are all just imperfect people living in an imperfect world and we had better get used to it. I’ve also heard it said that…There was only one perfect man…and look what they did to Him! Honestly, the biggest problem with this society-wide blame game is that we usually don’t hold ourselves to the same standard that we expect from others. Too many of us just can’t seem to get happy.

The Bible records many, many people who had good reason to be unhappy about their circumstances. Times were pretty hard for folks back then. One of those folks, the Apostle Paul, had what seems to be the right approach, especially since there was always somebody trying to either kill him or run him out of town. He said this in Philippians 4:11…“Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content.”

So, maybe we should take a good look around us and be content with the blessings we enjoy rather than the failings of others. We can either gripe and complain until they put us six feet under or we can live the rest of our lives working on being satisfied and happy. You have probably heard the "Rules for Life” that my Dad used to quote: 

RULE #1:  Don’t sweat the small stuff.  

RULE #2:  It’s ALL small stuff. 

So, may your blessing be LARGE and your ’stuff’ always be small!

Max Holt, Class 02-67, Association Chaplain