Okay, I admit it.  I am usually a harsh critic of the glut of “reality television” that invades the lineups of the major networks.  I always laugh about how even the name “REALITY television” is probably the greatest misnomer of all time.  However, lately, I have been a bit intrigued by the latest summer offering, “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here”.

The premise is simple.  A group of (pseudo-)celebrities are plunked in the middle of Costa Rica in a rain forest.  They are given the basic necessities.  And then, they compete in horrific competitions (involving massive cockroaches, spiders, snakes and other creep-crawlies) to win certain “luxuries” like hot dogs, granola bars and other things that you and I might take for granted.  At any time during the competition, they can be removed by simply saying the words “I’m a celebrity, get me out of here!”

With a couple of very minor exceptions, the celebrities have resisted the temptation to utter those words, and have continued on in the competition.  And yet, as I have watched these celebrities compete, I am reminded that there are masses of people in America who are looking at their current circumstances and are ready to throw up their hands and shout “I’m an American, get me out of here!”  They hope that simply by waiting for the show’s producers (in this metaphor, that would be the American government) to swoop in and rescue them from the shambles of their lives.

Well, if you read my last article, you know that I like to dispel myths.  And this month is no exception.  This month’s myth is the idea that the government can somehow fix this crisis that we are in.  The fact of the matter is, I’m not sure the government could bail me out of bed in the morning.

Somewhere along the way, the American Spirit has become perverted by the idea that if things get bad enough, all we have to do is throw in the towel and the government will come in and make everything all right.  To a certain extent, this is akin to “selling your soul to the devil”.  Every time that we look to some official body to “fix” things, we let a little bit of our self-reliance erode, forcing us to become even more dependent on those who hold the keys of power.  And the more we rely on the government to make things better, the more power we give up.  I shutter at the flippant use of the word “Tsar” in this current administration, and not just because it is the term that the Russian dictators used prior to the Bolshevik Revolution.  My fear is that we seem to use the term so willingly.

But, before I get into a diatribe on what I believe is wrong with this administration, I digress.

The fact of the matter is this:  if left to the government, the recovery will eventually sputter and die.  What we need is  complete change of attitude, and that begins and ends with US, the American people.  The first thing we need to do, however, is dispel the idea that we, as Americans, are somehow entitled to a life without trouble and strife.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

I would submit three things that we, as Americans, need to do in order to have the necessary societal “attitude adjustment” that will one day make us the greatest nation on earth—again.

1. DO SOMETHING, ANYTHING.  This country was built on ingenuity and perseverance.  Those qualities seem to have disappeared over the last 230 years.  Good ideas and hard work are the only two real keys to success.  And no, I’m not talking about inventing the next great invention — not everyone is an inventor.  However, everyone is creative to some extent.  And it is times like these that we need to get creative.  Are you one car repair away from going broke?  Get a temporary second job.  I heard that Domino’s Pizza is hiring.  Get up early in the morning and deliver the morning paper.  Start exercising that burger-flipping arm.  Do WHATEVER it takes.  Are you really willing to let your family go down in financial flames because you were too proud to take a job at a fast-food restaurant?  Remember, you aren’t entitled to ANYTHING.  You work to earn what you have, and if you are having trouble affording what you currently have, you can either give it up, or work hard to keep it.

2. REMEMBER WHAT IS IMPORTANT.  I know, I know.  Dining out three times a week is fun.  It keeps the kitchen clean.  But when the average bill for a family of four for dining out is somewhere in the neighborhood of $30, it starts not to make sense anymore.  If you and your family eat out once a week, over the year, you spend $1,500 on restaurants.  Three times a week?  A staggering $4,500.  Get the picture?  It might be time to buckle down and get some ground beef at the supermarket and fire up the grill at home.  Hot dogs?  Even easier.  If that car payment is looming, and you are wondering where the money is going to come from, don’t you DARE run over to Romano’s Macaroni Grill for dinner.  I say all this because sometimes we, as Americans, are very good at turning a blind eye to our problems.  It’s time to stare down our problems, realize that luxuries are just that, buckle down and remember the things that are truly important (unfortunately, a steak at Texas Roadhouse does not fall into the category of truly important things).

3. KNOW WHEN TO GIVE UP.  I’m sure that five-word sentence probably chills my good friend, Christopher, to the bone.  However, let me explain.  Is the car payment on that Lexus SUV becoming too much to handle?  Is the mortgage payment on that 6 bedroom house too much to bear?  Maybe it’s time to give them up.  Now, I’m certainly not here to give financial advice, but if your circumstances have changed, and you are trying to live exactly the same way as before, you aren’t thinking very clearly.  If you were barely able to afford your house payment, and then you received a 10% pay cut, common sense dictates that something is going to have to give.  Maybe it’s time to stop trying to sacrifice EVERYTHING ELSE, and get rid of the house and move down to something more affordable.  I realize that many people have difficulty selling their houses in this environment, but I can tell you this, with 100% certainty:  a house that is not up for sell has a 0% chance of selling.  Get that thing on the market.  Put the SUV up for sale, or try and trade it in for a cheap car that gets you from point A to point B.  That’s all you really need.

I’ll be the first to admit that living to excess can be fun.  But we have entered a no-nonsense era for America.  It’s time to buckle down and do what is necessary.  It’s time to stop looking to the government to save us, and start looking at practical things that we can do to make our situations better.

Reality has coming knocking…are you hiding behind the door hoping that it will go away?  Or are you ready to meet it face-to-face and deal with it?

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 20th, 2009 at 5:55 pm and is filed under Dr. Jesse Greevers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.