Whiners Deserve Their Day

     America has turned into a nation of whining brats.  I don't mean a few citizens, I mean all of us. From the top down, we are a bunch of whiners.
     Recently, 50 U.S. senators sent NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell a letter asking him to disallow the use of the name Redskins for the Washington franchise.   Sure, the name is offensive but is has been around longer than most Americans have been alive and suddenly it is offensive.  Special interest groups have failed to convince Redskins owner Daniel Snyder to change the team name but he refuses to budge on the issue.  Good for him.  Besides, doesn't our congress have more pressing matters to solve?
     Buccaneers, Raiders, and Vikings were all groups who used to rape and pillage but I don't see anyone pressuring their owners to change their team names.  America's team, the Dallas Cowboys refers to a group of Americans who Hollywood has depicted, among other things, as people who killed Native Americans.  Does anyone really think Jerry Jones will change the team's name?
     We do not like what Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling says in a private conversation that was probably illegally recorded and then sold to the media and now we insist he sell his team.  Clipper fans want a new owner but love heir team.  Why don't they quit whining and do what fans did when I grew up?  Former Oakland A's owner Charlie Finley was hated by everyone.  The players on his World Series winning teams left in droves and the fans followed because he was so tight fisted.  It got so bad, the A's were lucky if they drew 3,000 fans to a home game.
     Our whining was backed up by our actions.  Meanwhile, the Clippers will continue selling out games because Los Angeles fans love a winner.  However, they won't care how nice their owner is if the team loses; they just won't go to the games.
     Our whining goes beyond sports.  Teachers love to whine, believe me, I know.  For the past thirty years, I taught numerous subjects at several schools and there was whining at all levels, including plenty from me.  The work load for teachers is enormous and requires most to work beyond their contracted hours.  Grading papers, calling parents, and staff meetings are not why people go into teaching but they come with the job.  I guess the pay is miserable too but I could not complain about the $90,000.00 I was earning in my final year.
     Teachers will whine about poorly behaved students, weak administrators, and changing curriculum, but again, those are also part of the job.  However, if you really want to make a teacher complain, just change their classroom and you will get an earful.  I knew it was time to retire when I had to change my classroom three times in one year and I did not complain about.  I no longer cared which told me it was time to leave.
     Lets face it, we all whine.  We will complain about our meal at a place like Applebee's and then go back there the following week because we do not want to cook our own meals.  We will complain about how much we pay for our cell phone service and then rush out to buy the latest smart phone which, as most of you know, comes with a higher bill.  We hate the price of gas but still drive to work rather than take public transportation.  Worst of all, we complain about our elected leaders only to continually reelect them.
     We love to complain about our kids but never change our parenting techniques because it requires too much work on our part.  Instead, our kids problems are the fault of our schools, exes, bosses, or their step parents.  However, it is never our fault.  We are now allowed to bring children into this world, farm them out to be raised by others, and then complain about the way they turn out.
     That's okay because kids whine too.  Finding a kid who does not whine is about as easy as finding a needle in a hay stack.  Their internet you pay for is too slow.  You won't give them the newest cell phone so they can't sit with the cool kids at lunch.  They have to get dressed in front of their peers for PE because the school is too cheap to give students their own private dressing stalls.  It's too hot, too cold, not enough or too old.  And all we do is scratch our heads and whine to our friends about why our kids whine so much.  It's just not fair.
     I propose we change Wednesday to Whinesday.  In fact, I am going to whine about it until congress does something.  I am sure once they become aware of it they will write our President a letter asking him to make the name change.  But first, they have to do something really important and change the name of the Washington Redskins.