Salmonriver: Thought for the day 5/23/2007, Response to a (purported) letter from Jay Leno

I recently received this email from a casual aquaintence. I found out later, the letter below is FALSELY attributed to Mr. Leno. According to snopes.com he only wrote PART of ONE sentence of the below message.

A commentary about the U.S. by Jay Leno

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 2/3s of the citizenry just aren't happy and want a change. So being the knuckle dragger I am, I started thinking, ''What are we so unhappy about?'' Is it that we have electricity and running water 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? Is our unhappiness the result of having air conditioning in the summer and heating in the winter? Could it be that 95.4 percent of these unhappy folks have a job? 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? Maybe it is the ability to drive from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean without having to present identification papers as we move through each state? Or possibly the hundreds of clean and safe motels we would find along the way that can provide temporary shelter? I guess having thousands of restaurants with varying cuisine from around the world is just not good enough. 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.

Perhaps you are one of the 70 percent of Americans who own a home. 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. 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. This all in the backdrop of a neighborhood free of bombs or militias raping and pillaging the residents. Neighborhoods where 90 percent of teenagers own cell phones and computers.

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 percent 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!

Stop buying the negativism you are fed everyday by the media. Shut off the TV, burn Newsweek, and use the New York Times for the bottom of your birdcage. Then start being grateful for all we have as a 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

I slept on that. Afterall, I didn't want to hurt the feelings (unnecessiarily) of the person who forwarded it to me. She must have thought it was important, possibly even true. (Although, I suspect it was just because it included admonishments to "thank God.") Then, I drafted my response...

I got your letter with Jay Leno's comments. I don't know if Jay actually wrote or thinks that, but I think you've BOTH missed the point.

When someone like me says "I'm not happy with the direction we're going." it doesn't mean we don't LOVE the country we have. It means we don't want to stand by like a bunch of ostriches, with our heads in the sand and watch it frittered away.

I give thanks everyday for this most wonderful country. A place where citizens CAN complain if they want. I won't give that right up, not for you, not for Jay Leno, not for anyone.

I love this country so very much that I was one of those millions who volunteered to serve so that you and Mr. Leno could enjoy this blessed land. In hindsight, I was very lucky because I had a very strong president at the time (Reagan) who didn't piddle away the lives of the servicemen and women serving the nation. But it wouldn't have mattered. I swore to lay down my very life to defend the Constitution against "ALL ENEMIES, both foreign and domestic." To this day, I'm on my guard. Watching for when an enemy might try to harm OUR country whether by bomb or by giving away our rights and turning America into a sick shadow of her former greatness.

As you and Jay so glibly observed, people like me (and my father before me) VOLUNTEERED to risk their lives. You don't have to. But I would appreciate it if you weren't so reckless in your rush to throw us under the wheels. We are people too. We have parents, spouses and children too. We love them, but know there is something even more important above them.

So, I think I've earned the right to speak up and say something if I don't like the direction the country is going. You and Jay can try to malign my patriotic service and good name by implying that I am an "ungrateful, spoiled brat". But don't badmouth the soldiers still on active duty. They go where they are ordered because they have faith. They probably believe as I did, that the officers appointed over them are also serving the Constitution. Don't expect the soldiers and sailors to refuse to serve. They are doing their part. It's up to the rest of us to do ours. Defend America. Exercise your rights.

Jay likes being able to drive across the country and not have to stop and show his papers like they had to do in Russia, Nazi Germany or currently in Iraq. I like that too. When I was a kid, we used to have the right against unreasonable search and seizure. If the government wanted to dig around in your personal business, they had to get a search warrant by convincing a judge that you might be up to something bad. It wasn't hard to do, heck, they investigated Martin Luther King Jr for the idea that black people were human too. But now, we've LOST that right. The government can view any and all your personal records. No warrant required, and in most cases, you will NOT be told that they performed the search. That was the Fourth Amendment. Which one should we hand over next? Maybe the First Amendment, that's the one that Jay doesn't like, the one that allows complaining. Oh, wait, isn't that the one that allows him to get up on TV every night and crack jokes about the President and people like me? Hmm....

Thought for the day

May 23, 2007