The complain culture

Complaining is a common theme in everyday life. We hear people complain about everything. People complain about the traffic, the government, the weather, money, the WIFI connection, etc. Don’t get me wrong, I am a complainer myself. In fact, this post is probably for myself before anyone else.

We live in an era where complaining is a culture and is amplified. This is perhaps because people have all sorts of platforms to do this. Social media plays a big part in this behavior. Within a couple of seconds our complaints (on any given topic) can be sent out to the whole world to read, to people we know and don’t know, in many ways and forms depending on the platform we choose. Having said that, this blog may also have plenty of complaints from myself. But hopefully they can be constructive, and we can learn something from it.

Different generation, different challenges

I believe that the condition in a certain era defines the collective behavior of the people living in that era. Behaviors are usually shaped during childhood, and the tougher your upbringing is, the tougher you will usually be. I grew up in the 1980s – 1990s in Indonesia. The internet and gadgets weren’t a thing back then, and many of the other conveniences we have in this era were not available. Having the internet and many modern conveniences, I feel the difference, and can appreciate them. Going even back to the 1950s – 1960s, during my parent’s childhood, it was even tougher. My father didn’t have electricity until he was in his teenage years. So he was used to not having electricity, and having it now, he sees it as an immense blessing.

Children nowadays, especially those coming from middle-income families and above, who are given everything on a silver plate, along with the many facilities and conveniences that are readily available to them, seem to have difficulties in appreciating the many things that they have, and complain about the smallest things. They take the facilities and conveniences that they have for granted. At least this is my experience with my two teenagers, and I’m sure that my parents would say the same thing about myself. How things have flipped…

Degeneration of standards

Every generation has their own values and standards, and unfortunately the standards for the baseline of having gratitude are getting lower and lower. The newer generations generally complain about more things than the previous ones.

For example, not having access to gadgets would be extremely tough for many kids nowadays, as that’s their main means of interaction with other people. Many kids would definitely complain to not having access to their gadgets. To the extreme, we even see kids having tantrums when their gadgets are taken away from them. Kids nowadays complain about the shower water not being warm enough, the food for not being tasty enough, the internet speed for not being fast enough, and other things that for kids in my generation were non-factors. For some things, we wouldn’t even dare complain. 

Being grateful is key

I guess having things in abundance is not healthy for upbringing people who are mentally strong, people who don’t complain about things and just continue to grind and move forward. Having things in abundance is a double edged sword. You can have a better quality of life, but at the same time be lazy and feel privileged / entitled to having them, and even wanting more and more. First world problems are becoming everyone’s problem nowadays. 

I have to admit that I complain a lot. Perhaps it’s because of having a lot of things easy for me. If you’re like me and want to train to complain less, I’d probably try to remember and realize that there are many people who are having it tougher than me, and that I need to be grateful with where I’m at. God will increase His blessings whenever we’re grateful, and take away His blessings from us whenever we’re not. I definitely don’t want to lose any blessings I have.

And God knows best.

Reflections on Surah Al Baqarah Verse 61

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