This morning something fascinating happened.
During my commute in on the train I read an article so timely and so appropriate in the Wall Street Journal: that I made copies and passed it out to our team. I was feeling so positive today, so convinced that our team was pulling itself out of the muck and mire of complaining and feeling the negative effects of the recession etc, and turning a corner to producing. I shared it to be a point of positivity, to spread a feeling of good will and general warm feeling about what we’ve been through and are accomplishing. I felt they would appreciate the timeliness of the note, smile and file it away under “nice article”…
Most did.
An anonymous someone apparently did not, and left the article crumpled in a ball outside my office door.
Fascinating.
The article’s title is “From Attitude to Gratitude: This is No Time for Complaints” by Jeffrey Zaslow. What could have been so offensive to warrant a response of that nature?
Well, the general”zeitgeist” of the article is that when recession hits people tend to complainn less, and realize just how lucky they are to be gainfully employed etc. Zaslow cites that
“Job satisfaction is actually up according to a December 2008 survey by Yahoo! HotJobs.” People are more grateful for what they have an hesitant to wine and complain.
Jeffrey goes on to quote Dr. McHenry
“A lot of young people grumble due to entitlement” Dr. McHenry encourages us to write down three things we’re grateful for every day – no matter how simple they might seem. “Some days, ” she says, “the list might be as basic as oxygen, food and shelter”
This final quote inspired me to even add this as my status on facebook this morning:
Chris is wondering what are 3 things that you’re grateful for today? – 1.My Family 2.My Job 3. The recent development of a sports page in the WSJ are mine 🙂
So what could have triggered this person to crumple up the article and leave it outside my office? I guess I’ll never know. Perhaps as my mother says “A guilty conscience needs no accuser”
But I’ll tell you one thing – I’m certainly not going to complain about it 😉
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Christopher Dessi 
I’m grateful for 1. The freedom to express myself the way I see fit. Complaining is form of expression that is cathartic, especially when the complaints are justified but even if they are not. 2. My youth. My short time on this earth has taught me that older does not necessarily mean wiser or smarter. 3. My direct nature. Passive aggressiveness wastes time and energy.
I felt you leaving that article on my desk was inappropriate, especially considering past events. Consider its crumpled return my show of gratitude. Now about that attitude…