Don’t Whine

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Jun 30, 1904

SOME one has said: “Whining is poor business; it identifies you at once with the under dog, and does not get you any sympathy at all.” The man who whines confesses his weakness, his inability to match his environment. He can not command the situation. It is too much for him: all he can do is to kick and complain. The whiner never gets anywhere, never accomplishes anything.

The man or woman who uses up vitality in complaining, finding fault with circumstances, kicking against fate; who is always protesting that there is no justice in the world, that merit is not rewarded, that the times are out of joint, and that everything is wrong, is put down—and rightly—as a weakling, with a small, narrow mind. Large-minded men and women do not spend their energies in whining; if they meet an obstruction, they go through it, and pass on about their business. They know that all their time and strength must be concentrated on the work of making a life life. The whiner not only wastes his time and strength, but he prejudices people against people against him. No one feels inclined to help a man who is always complaining of conditions and blaming his “hard luck.” Somehow we get the feeling that he does not deserve help, so much as a good scolding.

The practical business man has no sympathy with the man who complains that he “can not get a job.” A great many employers object to having people around who complain that “luck has always been against them;” they fear, perhaps, not without reason, that they will create evil conditions. The complaining person, the whiner, by his own conduct places himself at a fearful disadvantage with a possible employer: nobody wants the man who poses as a victim of “hard luck,” who says he can not get a job. Everybody wants the man who is in great demand.—Success.