Let’s Stop All the Complaining

This year I made a resolution to try not to listen to (or to cut short) negative, and sometimes terrifying, comments or predictions about our future, and about the future of our children and grandchildren, in our beloved Venezuela.

The way I see it, having to deal with day-to-day problems is more than enough. It is so unpleasant to listen to people who see the most negative side of everything. They always see the glass half empty and see no light or hope anywhere. It embitters life: the life of the one who complains or criticizes, of their spouse, of their children and of everyone around them. They become unbearable people, the kind you’d rather not be around.

I have always said, and I repeat it again, that anyone who has to stay in this country (whether because they want to or because they have no way of leaving) should try to look at things from a higher, less earthly point of view, because otherwise they will most likely end up with high blood pressure or a heart attack.

For anyone who doesn’t understand what I mean by a higher point of view, let me explain. You might ask yourself, for example: What does God want from each of us, that He is allowing this hard trial for Venezuelan families? How can I become a better person through everything that is happening to us? How can I make life pleasant for those around me, despite the problems I am facing? How can I make my life “beautiful,” so that others always find a smile in me, even if I feel I am in a concentration camp? How am I using my faith, my creativity and my sense of humor to brighten my own life and the lives of those beside me?

We can also remember that there are many countries going through far worse things than we are, and others that have been through things similar to Venezuela’s, and that thanks to the optimistic, fighting people, full of faith, hope and fortitude, who stayed there, they came through.

What I have noticed is that the most optimistic people I know (and there are quite a few) are working all the time to help and serve others, whether in the Church, in a foundation, in their community, in their business. When people are surrounded by others who need them, they have no time to think about themselves and make their lives bitter. Joy springs up spontaneously because, as the saying goes, “there is more joy in giving than in receiving.”

Now, that is not something learned so easily. It is good to accustom children, from the time they are small, to know what service, solidarity and good citizenship are; to learn to claim their rights and fulfill their duties; to love their Homeland and their fellow Venezuelans…

If we raise a child or a young person in a little glass box, without any kind of problems, without any responsibility at home, with everything neatly arranged, indulging every whim, attentive to whatever little trip they fancy or whatever they feel like buying, then tomorrow, when shortages or difficulties arise (as sooner or later they always will), that boy or girl will find it harder to face the reality they will have to live.

That is why a good goal for this year is to ask ourselves (every time we complain or criticize something): What am I contributing so that Venezuela can come out of this crisis? What am I doing to make life happier for everyone who crosses my path? What am I sowing in my family: values of faith, joy, hope and service, or bitterness, hopelessness, selfishness…?

And always to remember that wonderful message Our Lord Jesus Christ taught us by His example: “I did not come to be served, but to serve.” If we all lived to serve others and not to serve ourselves, Venezuela and the world would be very different, because in that sentence there is no room for my whims, my comfort, my pleasure, my things…

As the Pope told us at Christmas, and I repeat it again:

“Only Jesus Christ gives true happiness.”

If you want to be happy and not go around complaining about everything that happens to you, or everything you see, draw close to Christ and His Most Holy Mother, and you will see how your life changes. You will be filled with great peace, and you will be able to keep praying and fighting with all the strength of your mind, your soul and your heart for a Venezuela where Truth, Justice, Freedom and Peace may soon shine for all.