He is STAUNCH democrat, where I am staunch conservative.
This here is one area we differ. He identifies with a party, I identify with a thought pattern or ideal.
We had been friends for over 25 years. He was ALWAYS the whiner and complainer. Everything was too hard, or this was wrong or that was wrong. Waa, waa, waa.
The last number of years that we talked, it got to the point that I'd dread his calls. He sounded like Eeyore all the time. He found a problem everywhere. Everything was the fault of the rich or republicans. His lifes issues were always so tough.
One time he was complaining about the cold winters, and that he couldn't handle the cold anymore. The driving in snow. The shoveling.
He didn't like it when I started smiling. You see, we are about the same age. He is 5 months older. We were in our mid to late 30's at the time. (30's, and you can't handle a little cold?) He drove about 30 minutes to work every day. Worked in a shop or factory. I work in construction...OUTSIDE...most of the time. There are times, working at steel mills during a shut down, that YOU HAVE to work in 0 or single digit numbers (not including windchill). You're 200 feet up in the air on top of a blast furnace, with the wind BLOWING. To paraphrase Tom Hanks "There's no crying in pipefitting".
If I'm within a 1 hour drive to get to work, I'm in my backyard. It's not uncommon to drive 1 to 1-1/2 hours to AND from work and work 10-12-14 hours. Like the Duke said "A man's gotta do, what a man's gotta do". Whining about stuff doesn't make it better and it doesn't make it easier. Though a good attitude doesn't change the difficulty of the work or the conditions, it does affect the man. You can either be in a good mood doing something, or a bad mood. Good moods are more enjoyable.
He stopped calling about 5-6 years ago, after a phone call, where I basically unloaded on him. I was tired of his whining and his blaming everybody else for his problems and his blaming those with differing political views for the problems with this country.
I can remember one of the last comments we had that day. We were talking about some political this or that. I believe we were talking taxes. He was regurgitating some talking point. I was quoting facts and stats. I mean, I knew tax rates for different income levels. I quoted exemptions and deductions. I knew what FICA taxes are and how much (including how much goes to SS and how much to medicare). All he had were PMSNBC rhetoric.
Finally I stated that I had given him all these facts and stats. Things he could look up, and where they could be found. I know, because I looked the stuff up and figured it out myself. I asked him how he knew? His response. "Because I know!"
You just can't argue with that logic.
He is probably the most extreme case, for me. But I see a huge portion of him in just about every democrat/liberal I meet.
I remember one of the other things he said during that conversation. he said he was getting more angry and bitter all the time.
Gee...ya think?
Again, something I see a lot in liberals.
As a matter of fact, I have noticed it too. In my case, I have seen plenty of people out there, so dang obssessed with politics, that it just totally is annoying. Politics isn’t a full time thought process for me, sometimes, I am just happy with what I have right now, period. It’s like liberals turned to grinches or something.
” He was ALWAYS the whiner and complainer.”
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He wraps himself in his misery like it was his “blankie”.
He’d be lost without it.
Sad!
.