Yep, what a concept...

I am just getting so sick of people that I know, love and care about saying that they don't like the way their life is going, what's happening at work, and even themselves. I could give examples, but that would take up the infitesimal character count that blogger seems to provide. That, and I wouldn't know where to begin. It's all around the board on this one, folks. Never has an issue been so universal in all the realms of my life. Well, yeah, there has been, but it was actually the same issue, different realms and different specifics. Twice. People just sitting around trouble-aiming instead of trouble-shooting.

In the immortal words of Utah Philips (because, according to an Elizabethan poet whose exact identity currently escapes me and my ambition to look it up, words are immortal and therefore the most exact way to immortalize), "Why complain? Try to do something about it."

Got a problem? Yo, I'll solve it.

I once said, in an old profile back on an archaic, dysfunctional, defunct social networking site that one of my pet peeves was people complaining about complainers.

So I've decided to take my own advice.

I'm going to start (being like an old man) and carrying change around in my pockets. Any time I hear someone complain about something they could change if they just sucked it up, I'm going to chuck a coin at them. I may very well go broke doing it, but I think it'll be worth it.

Picture this:

In the middle of a complaint, someone says, "OW! Did I just get hit with a nickel?"

I step up and say, "Why, I think so. Maybe it's a sign you should try changing whatever it is you were just complaining about."

Then I walk away, leaving the complainer dumbfounded and possibly with a concussion.

One flaw in the plan: sometimes the complaints come via phone calls, e-mails, or other forms of non-human interaction. What to do, what to do?

Funny thing is, some people do try to change circumstances and themselves. I know I have. Attempted, succeeded, and failed. But at least I get to live knowing I tried.