The author John Steinbeck loved the sea, and he loved nature. As a result of these passions, he became a friend of Ed Ricketts. Ed Ricketts collected specimen from the sea, which he then sold to labs across the country.
Ricketts and Steinbeck conceived the idea of going to the Sea of Cortez located between Baja California and the rest of Mexico. On the journey they would collect specimen and explore the region. They chartered a boat and crew and carried out their expedition in the spring of 1940. After their return, Steinbeck wrote an account of the journey in Log from the Sea of Cortez.
In the book, Steinbeck told about the sailors on board and their tendency, like farmers, to complain about everything. He wrote: “Fishermen are no happier than farmers. It is difficult to see why anyone becomes a farmer or a fisherman. Dreadful things happen to them constantly: they lose their nets; the fish are wild; snags are caught in their nets; there are no fish and the price is high; there are too many fish and the price is low; and if some means could be devised so that the fish swam up to a boat, wriggled up a trough, squirmed their way into the fishhold, and pulled ice over themselves with their own fins, the imprecations would be terrible because the fish had not removed their own scales and brought their own ice.”
Complaining and griping are besetting sins of the human race. We evidently find something satisfying about them because we practice them so much. There are a couple of problems about such an approach to life, however. For one thing, no one cares to be around us very much if all we do is complain. In addition to that, we spend so much time zeroing in on what is wrong that we seldom give equal time to celebrating all that is right.
Connie Anderson told of traveling by bus from Salt Lake City, Utah to Phoenix, Arizona. Sitting in front of her were two women who talked incessantly. Along the way, the driver pointed out places of special interest. As they made their way along one section of the highway, the driver said that there were ancient Indian dwellings in the area. He urged the passengers to go see them if they ever got back that way. He noted that the dwellings were several miles to the east. When the driver said that, one of the women in front of Anderson turned to the other and remarked, “You’d think they’d have had sense enough to build closer to the road.”
If you want to find something to complain about today, you will certainly be able to do so. Why not take a different approach? In the words of Paul, “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things” (Philip. 4:8).
