Don’t Complain Unless you have a better idea T-Shirt
This is a T-Shirt dedicated to my dad who served in the U.S. Army for 38 years. His carrier began in WWII while serving under Gen. George Patton. It lasted for several years, finally retiring after serving in the 84th Division out of Milwaukee where MSgt George Herman commanded the Mechanics Committee with two of his sons serving under him.
I could tell you a number of stories about WWII. One of which includes the idea of marching across the Soviet Union to remove that threat. Which of course turned out to be real and worse than the politicians imagined.
The saying, “don’t complain unless you have a better idea,” was often used to keep his soldiers from complaining about how the world was going. Things were much different back in the 1970’s. People stood up for what they believed in and MSgt George Herman believed that changes came from actions. Talk to your elected officials. Tell them what you are thinking. The American worker was in charge. After all, they were paying taxes which of course made the country run. If you didn’t like what the current politician was doing, get involved and get a new one elected. Don’t let the party choose the candidate, tell the party who you want to run.
In the 1960’s Milwaukee had a group of hard nosed elected officials who didn’t mind criticism, didn’t pay attention to polls that were often fabricated, and ran for reelection for a few weeks. Not the moment they walked into office. Not at all like today. Neighbors new each other, voiced their opinions, and in most cases agreed on issues. That was the United States of America those WWII veterans fought for. That was the ideal they thought about on that long cruise back to the United States.
But things were simpler back them. The average home was about 1000 square feet. The average family had 2-4 children. We never heard about divorce, abortion, and socialists didn’t run the streets or news media. Kids shared a small room. You had 3 bedrooms. So one for the parents, two for the kids. If you had boys and girls, one room for each gender. Kids didn’t have identity issues. Girls took sewing and cooking classes in school. Boys took shop and auto mechanic classes in addition to reading, writing, arithmetic, science, and of course history. Schools taught history the way it happened. Teachers shared stories about WWII, the Korean war, and some about the Vietnam War. We never heard the term, “politically correct.” Teachers didn’t have to worry about covering up or skipping facts because it may offend someone. Cars were made to take a licking and keep on ticking. Safety was covered by common sense instead of lawyers and politicians who have no idea how to change a tire on their car.
“Don’t complain unless you have a better idea,” was meant to ensure, the 1% of squeaky wheels who always complained and expected the government to solve all the problems would never be heard beyond the barroom door where they did most of their complaining. How did that mentality spread over this great country of ours? Why do we now cater to people who have little to no sense. Elect people will less sense. Pay higher taxes because we need more laws to protect people with no ability to work themselves out of a mess they got themselves into. Maybe we need those sewing and shop classes back in schools and get rid of those laptops and smart phones.