WHINING | AdventAI

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Aug 26, 1880

WHINING.

THERE is a class of people in this world—by no means small—whose prominent peculiarity is whining. They whine because they are poor; or, if rich, because they have no health to enjoy their riches; they whine because it is too shiny; they whine because they have no luck, and others' prosperity exceeds theirs; they whine because some friends have died and they are living; they whine because they have aches and pains, and they whine no one can tell why. Now a word to these whining persons. First, stop whining; it's no use, this everlasting complaining, fretting, fault-finding, and whining. Why, you are the most deluded set of creatures that ever lived. Do you know that it is a well settled principle of physiology and common sense that these habits are more exhausting to nervous vitality than almost any other violation of physiological law? And do you know that life is pretty much as you make it? You can make it bright and sunshiny, or you can make it dark and shadowy. This life is only meant to discipline us—to fit us for a higher and purer state of being. Then stop whining and fretting, and go on your way rejoicing.

A GOOD illustration of the manner in which many Americans recognize while pretending to ignore social conditions in religious matters, says a Springfield paper, is afforded by the story of one of our former church sextons. At a brilliant church wedding one of the ushers showed some very worthy, but socially obscure people, into good seats in the middle aisle. As soon as the pompous sexton discovered it he hastened to the usher and exclaimed, "Did you give the ——s that seat?" "Yes." "What on earth did you do that for? Did you not know that they were only side-aisle trash?"