Continually dissatisfied

By Jim Thompson
HCP columnist

It seems that the older I get, the more dissatisfied people become. I am talking about as a whole – people worldwide.

A major culprit seems to be communications. From telephone to radio to television to internet, we are bombarded constantly with news from around the world. Greed seems to be one of the biggest triggers in this scenario. I have written about this before.

If one goes back to mid-20th century, we had telephone, radio and newspapers. Television was in its infancy. The internet was 45 years in the future.

I don’t think you can be very dissatisfied if you don’t have much information.  

If you have a lot of information, dissatisfaction is a choice, not a requirement.   

Hence, the dissatisfaction we see among ourselves and others is because individuals choose to be dissatisfied.

There is dissatisfaction caused by writings as well. How many millions of lives would have been saved had Karl Marx not written "Das Kapital?"

Sometimes, it seems as though information is lurking in the weeds, ready to jump out at society when conditions are ripe.

When we look at criminal activity, almost all of it is caused by a combination of dissatisfaction and lack of morality or ethics.
  
We went to a restaurant for Thanksgiving. Sitting near us was a couple with apparently a friend of theirs.  

This friend (female) was loud and cursing throughout our Thanksgiving meal.  

The couple was embarrassed and tried to calm her down. We are talking about a lady in her mid-40s, perhaps a bit older.  

I was sitting with my back to her; I thought perhaps she was an older teenager, not of the age she was.   

Laura could see her clearly, and I could when we stood up to leave. I was shocked by her age. I was shocked by the idea that she could not see the irony of being at Thanksgiving dinner and carrying on as she was.

Many people have such serious “fights” going on in their minds occasionally. We all need to understand that dissatisfaction is a choice, and most of us have the ability to control it.

Jim Thompson, formerly of Marshall, is a graduate of Hillsboro High School and the University of Cincinnati. He resides in Duluth, Ga. and is a columnist for The Highland County Press.