To the Editor:
In his book, “How to Stop Worrying and Start Living,” Dale Carnegie writes: “About 90 percent of the things in our lives are right, and about 10 percent are wrong. If we want to be happy, all we have to do is to concentrate on the 90 percent that are right, and ignore the 10 percent that are wrong. If we want to be worried and bitter and have stomach ulcers, all we have to do is to concentrate on the 10 percent that are wrong and ignore the 90 percent that are glorious.”
This is sound advice for helping us manage our personal emotions and well-being. That is not to say that we should stop striving to improve ourselves, but to solely focus our mind on what is wrong in our lives will surely cause us to lose sight of all the good things in our lives.
But how about a nation or society? Can an entire society be influenced in such a way that it winds up destroying itself by only focusing on “what’s wrong” with it? Consider the possibility that our unceasing focus on the issues that we have before us has caused us to lose sight of the greatness that is the United States of America. Could this cause us to collectively become disenchanted with ourselves as a nation?
Human beings are prewired to focus on the negative, things that can do us harm, rather than on things that are positive. Evolution has caused humans to behave this way, as a means of self-preservation. It was far more important for a human being’s survival to learn and react to the growl of a wolf or a lion, than it was to ponder the beauty of a sunset. In modern times, this translates to our tendency to be drawn to negative news rather than positive.
Traditional and social media absolutely understand and exploit this tendency to grab and hold our attention. An old saying in the newspaper business said “If it bleeds, it leads,” meaning, put the worst possible “bad news” story on the front-page headline. As technology has evolved, more and more of our time has become devoted to consuming information via 24-hour news cycles and smartphones. As a result, we are spending much more time focused on “what’s wrong” rather than “what’s right.” The danger is that by focusing only on “what’s wrong” in America we risk losing “what’s right” and ultimately destroying ourselves as a nation.
Just as it is dangerous to compare oneself to some perfect or “ideal” self (perfect looks, relationships, health, family, house, car, career, etc.), it is also dangerous to compare one’s society with some perfect or “ideal” society (no poverty, no prejudice, everyone wins, etc.) Perhaps this is exactly what those who are constantly condemning America are doing, seeking to compare America with some perfect or “ideal” world that they wish existed, but unfortunately does not.
Maybe a more healthy, productive and realistic approach is not to compare America with an ideal world, but rather to compare how we are today vs. how we were in the past. Are we moving forward or backward? Maybe if we were to examine American society by objectively looking at the facts over the long view, we would find that we are slowly and steadily progressing towards a better nation. This is not to say that we should not constantly strive to improve our society, but solely focusing on “what’s wrong” in our country will surely cause us to lose sight of all the good things in our nation and our world.
CHUCK BURNS
Wildwood Crest
