Obenieta: A taste of thanks

Friday, November 18, 2011

TO KICK out one’s inner cynic, it is enough to flaunt the pleasure of one’s fortune perfect enough for a Facebook status. Hey, friends, consider the reminder of good old Epictetus: “He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”

Let others insist the world sucks while you blow bubbles of innocent cheer. Let them eat their envy-green eyeballs out as they see your sumptuous dinner and your vacation photos. Let them lick their drool off as they click a “like” on your upbeat update.

Have something to report? Tell us in text, photos or videos.

Behold your bliss. After all, to appreciate anything may yet improve our numerical aptitude. In his Reflections on the Human Condition, Eric Hoffer explained, “The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings.”

Lately, numbers are not to be trifled with. In the United States, for instance, even the “one percent” can be an outsize cause for discontent. See how the so-called “Occupy Wall Street” protesters have proven themselves no less than thorns at the authorities’ side after building “tent cities” inside parks across the country—from New York to Oregon— to dramatize their disgust against Wall Street excess. On behalf of the larger society comprising the other 99%, they are clamoring for a chance to gloat at the eventuality of ending income inequality. Only when federal policy favors the privileged few can they afford to wax optimistic across their social network and spread a smiley.

Last we read, the distraught bands of firebrands have been dealt with a cold blanket as the police struck and shooed them away from the parks for being unsafe and unsanitary. “Nonsense,” huffed a letter to the editor of the New York Times sent by 68-year-old woman who branded herself as a “veteran of antiwar, civil rights and women’s liberation protests of the 1960s and 70s.” If she had a Facebook or Twitter account, her status would have brimmed over with gratitude. “Occupy Wall Street was the neatest, most orderly and polite protest I have ever witnessed,” she wrote.

So far, what’s written on the wall reveal the numbers, speaking of numbness within the body politic limping with disappointment. Factor in the fact of Americans’ disapproval of the powerful, for example. Only nine percent of Americans approve of the way Congress has been doing its job, according to the latest New York Times /CBS News poll. This data does reflect the result of last year’s congressional elections wherein a mere 20% of voters in the 18-24 age bracket (less than half of the over-all average of 42%) felt enthusiastic enough to cast their ballots.

Hardly a palatable prospect for a healthy democracy, you’d say. Definitely, it’s not a nice subject over dinner as Americans suffer the turkeys gladly for the Thanksgiving holiday this weekend.

A bird in hand is worth two in the bush. This as much is something I can tell my Filipino friends who are yearning for America at the risk of becoming persona non grata to our nationalistic compatriots. Raring to fly away from the country’s daily bread of bad news, they may have cold comfort over the fact that we’re not alone with our fair share of woes. This may be enough to be thankful for where less is sadly more.

(geemyko@gmail.com)