Thursday, June 19, 2008

Tell me what you think...

I received this email from a friend and found it interesting. I have not made up my mind about how I really feel about it yet. But I would love to hear your feelings about this........
Forget the politics and just think seriously about what Jay is presenting!!!

No matter what your political convictions are, this is eye opener.
What a thankless people we are!!!

Subject: Jay Leno on President Bush (Surprising)

Jay Leno wrote this; it's the Jay Leno we don't often see....

As most of you know I am not a President Bush fan, nor have I ever been, but this is not about Bush, it is about us, as Americans, and it seems to hit the mark.
'The other day I was reading Newsweek magazine and came across some Poll data I found rather hard to believe. It must be true given the source, right?
The Newsweek poll alleges that 67 percent of Americans are unhappy with the direction the country is headed and 69 percent of the country is unhappy with the performance of the President. In
essence 2/3 of the citizenry just ain't happy and want a change.
So being the knuckle dragger I am, I started thinking,
'What are we so unhappy about?''

A.. Is it that we have electricity and running water 24 hours a day, 7 Days a week?

B.. Is our unhappiness the result of having air conditioning in the summer and heating in the winter?

C.. Could it be that 95.4 percent of these unhappy folks have a job?

D Maybe it is the ability to walk into a grocery store at any
time and see more food in moments than Darfur has seen
in the last year?

E.. Maybe it is the ability to drive our cars and trucks from
the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean without having to present identification papers as we move through each state?

F.. Or possibly the hundreds of clean and safe motels we would find along the way that can provide temporary shelter?

G.. I guess having thousands of restaurants with varying cuisine from around the world is just not good enough either.

H. Or could it be that when we wreck our car, emergency workers show up and provide services to help all and even send a helicopter to take you to the hospital.

I.. Perhaps you are one of the 70 percent of Americans who own a home.

J.. You may be upset with knowing that in the unfortunate case of a fire, a group of trained firefighters will appear in
moments and use top notch equipment to extinguish the
flames, thus saving you, your family, and your belongings.

K.. Or if, while at home watching one of your many flat screen TVs, a burglar or prowler intrudes, an officer equipped with a gun and a bullet-proof vest will come to defend you and your family against attack or loss.

L.. This all in the backdrop of a neighborhood free of bombs
or militias raping and pillaging the residents. Neighborhoods
where 90% of teenagers own cell phones and computers.

M.. How about the complete religious, social and political freedoms we enjoy that are the envy of everyone in the world?

Maybe that is what has 67% of you folks unhappy.

Fact is, we are the largest group of ungrateful, spoiled brats the world has ever seen. No wonder the world loves the U.S., yet has a great disdain for its citizens. They see us for what we are. The most blessed people in the world who do nothing but complain about what we don't have, and what we hate about the country instead of thanking the good Lord we live here.

I know, I know. What about the president who took us into war and has no plan to get us out? The president who has a measly 31 percent approval rating? Is this the same president who guided the nation in the dark days after 9/11? The president that cut taxes to bring an economy out of recession? Could this be the same guy who has been called every name in the book for succeeding in keeping all the spoiled ungrateful brats safe from terrorist attacks? The
commander in chief of an all-volunteer army that is out there
defending you and me?

Did you hear how bad the President is on the news or talk show?
Did this news affect you so much, make you so unhappy you couldn't take a look around for yourself and see all the good
things and be glad? Think about it......are you upset at the
President because he actually caused you personal pain OR is it because the 'Media' told you he was failing to kiss your sorry ungrateful behind every day. Make no mistake about it.

The troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have volunteered to serve, and in many cases may have died for your freedom.

There is currently no draft in this country. They didn't have to go.
They are able to refuse to go and end up with either a
''general'' discharge, an 'other than honorable'' discharge or,
worst case scenario, a ''dishonorable'' discharge after a few days in the brig.

So why then the flat-out discontentment in the minds of 69 percent of Americans?

Say what you want but I blame it on the media. If it bleeds it leads and they specialize in bad news. Everybody will watch a
car crash with blood and guts. How many will watch kids
selling lemonade at the corner?

The media knows this and media outlets are for-profit
corporations. They offer what sells, and when criticized, try to
defend their actions by 'justifying' them in one way or another.
Just ask why they tried to allow a murderer like O.J. Simpson to write a book about how he didn't kill his wife, but if he did he would have done it this way......Insane!



Turn off the TV, burn Newsweek, and use the New York Times for the bottom of your bird cage. Then start being grateful for all we have as country. There is exponentially more good than bad. We are among the most blessed people on Earth and should thank God several times a day, or at least be thankful and appreciative.'

'With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, 'Are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?'

Jay Leno

2 comments:

AshliO said...

This is a good "focus on the positive" essay and provides good food for thought. There is one little feeling I had and I needed to do some checking on it before I replied, and that was that Jay Leno probably didn't write this. It doesn't discount the MESSAGE. I just had a feeling Jay Leno didn't actually write it. It didn't sound like his style or his message. So anyway, I did a little digging -- snopes.com is the place to go to check out stuff you get via e-mail or Internet. And sure enough this evolved one little thing Leno said, but was written by a guy named Craig R. Smith.

That being said, I think this is good. I actually agree with most every word of it. We Americans complain WAY STINKING TOO MUCH. I for one am proud of President Bush though for a lot he has done (not that I agree with everything -- can we agree with EVERYTHING done by another human?) ... and that puts me waaaaaay in the minority. :-)

Another thought I have is this -- even though we are very privileged, it is still OK to voice our opinion about what we think is wrong. That is one of the blessings of being American.

OK ... there are my thoughts! Yours?

Aubrey Anne said...

Here is a VERY abbreviated version of mine... all in the name of having to get ready for work soon.

I'm with Ashli 100%. I think Bush has done his best, and that's all we can ask of a human. I don't agree with everything he's done, but EXACTLY!!! "can we agree with everything done by another person?" Absolutely not. All we can do is vote every time our country allows us to, and speak our minds when something doesn't seem to be going the way we think it ought to. The President is not the only person who makes the decisions around here, and it is our responsibility to speak up about it. (We are at the mercy of quite a few lobbyists who actually have much more to do with decision-making than we average-folk do, but that's another issue entirely.)

We do a lot of complaining, but perhaps that's what keeps us changing and keeps our government a democracy? Keeps us moving forward and progressing? Who knows. I think the ability to complain and publicly feel discomfort about the state of our country may be the thing that keeps us free.

BUT I could also be way off. :)