It’s so easy to complain. The TV show is terrible, the news is always bad, this porridge that I’m mooching is too hot. I cannot say that I am complaint free, but I can still voice what I think, because I’m going to be talking to myself as much as anyone else.

It is “natural” to complain, we seem to develop that trait early. I’m reminded of a story about a parrot that didn’t talk for 10 years. No matter what the owners tried, it would not say a word. Then, one morning at breakfast, the bird squawked, “This toast is burnt.”

The owners were surprised, but managed to ask, “Why did you just start talking?”

The parrot replied, “Well, up until now, everything’s been alright.”

Why are we so quick to comment when we don’t like something? Why do we remain quiet when we do like something? Addressing the act of complaining could be a post by itself, but that’s not where my thoughts are heading at this time.

Why do we, and I ask myself the same question, stop at the complaint? Oh, the porridge is too hot, huh? Use your silly mouth to blow on it then. That same breath used to talk about it could have cooled it off.

When I look at my complaints, most of them can be categorized as either something in me that must change, or something in others that must change. I really need to take a look at each situation if I truly want to cleared up.

For example, let’s say someone said something that I thought was wrong. First, is it just because I disagree, and I have no other problem with it? Then I must change. They did nothing wrong, it is my problem.

Maybe I have other grounds. Let’s go further and we determine that what was said was not Biblical. OK, now they have a problem. What do I do now? How about sit and grouse about it? Maybe tell some of my friends how wrong that person is, how they need to correct what they said. That’s how I tend to try handling it, but that makes me just as wrong as the person I’m complaining about. Jesus said to go to the people we have a problem with and address it. There are other passages that tell us not to go around talking about others.

So, why do I not do it the right way? I can tell you exactly why, I can also tell you that I am not alone in this. I don’t because, “I don’t know how.” Often I’ll add that I’m afraid of making things worse because I am bad with words. That is true, but when I use it like that, it changes from a reason, which is acceptable, to an excuse, which is wrong.

I think I need to work on emphasizing the “ex” in excuses and stop using them. Instead of trying to defer the blame, why not fix the problem and be done with it?