The Associated Press, again, is reminding everyone everywhere that it's time to throw in the towel, give up, and plunge yourself off the nearest cliff .. or highest building.. or leap in front of the fastest train. Anything to get out of this thing called life in America. Back in June, the AP wrote an article properly titled "Everything Seemingly Is Spinning out of Control".. It was a nice little summation of why life was hopeless. I thought they were done. But apparently the most respected press agency in history was just getting started. That's right, they're at it again, this time taking it up a notch: The new headline being read around the nation in newspapers this morning, "Americans' unhappy birthday: 'Too much wrong'.. My local paper featured the story on the front page, accompanied by an AP chosen photo of an unnamed man at the stock exchange with his head sadly bent down into his hands.. sinking away just like apparently the United States itself is. The lengthy AP story written by PAULINE ARRILLAGA reads,

"But then talk turns to the state of the Union, and the Optimists become decidedly bleak. They use words such as "terrified," "disgusted" and "scary" to describe what one calls "this mess" we Americans find ourselves in. Then comes the list of problems constituting the mess: a protracted war, $4-a-gallon gas, soaring food prices, uncertainty about jobs, an erratic stock market, a tougher housing market, and so on and so forth.

Terrified! Disgusted! I get terrified when I fill my gas tank and disgusted when I go to the grocery store. Razor blade time yet? Just a moment..

"The nation's psyche is battered and bruised, the sense of pessimism palpable. Young or old, Republican or Democrat, economically stable or struggling, Americans are questioning where they are and where they are going. And they wonder who or what might ride to their rescue"

A palpable pessimism. Oddly enough not for me this past weekend. People around me seemed generally happy. They even looked forward to seeing fireworks. They were struggling. One person has his own trucking company, and diesel prices make him sick, but I don't think he has his razor blades out yet! You're gonna have to do better than that, AP!

"..the Rev. Dumas Harshaw Jr., has noticed some new faces in his pews as troubles deepen. He senses that more Americans are "in a wilderness, psychologically and spiritually," and "are trying to find grounding." As Harshaw tells his congregation, we Americans are in a "season of testing." ...As she says this, the other Optimists nod in agreement. Then their president, Susan Kruse, begins reciting one of the 10 tenets of the "Optimist Creed," and the others soon join in, their smiles returning. "Forget the mistakes of the past," they chime in unison, "and press on to the greater achievements of the future." In the end, that's what the Optimists do. They get their troubles off their chests, debate possible solutions — and then move on to doing what they can to make some positive changes in their communities, and in their own lives. A birthday lesson for all Americans, perhaps."

Perhaps that's true, AP, a final lesson for us all that we can learn from the optimists. Hate to promote myself, and all that, but just yesterday I a brief posting called "the Flag is Still there".. I did the AP thing, a summation of all that's bad but a reminder of all that's good and how we've even been worse. I wrote

"In 1865 the ragged flag was almost torn in half, saw a president get shot, and watched decades more of racial intolerance and hate crimes that continues in some ways still today. In 1941, the ragged flag watched America be attacked by another country..it withstood the attack and watched America rally around it.. In 1973, it watched a president tear the Constitution into pieces. It bounced back. In 1993, it watched an American building be attacked withstand the barrage. In 2001, it saw the same building fall. And through tears, that feeling of pride in the tattered flag roared on."

Associated Press, as much as you appear to want me to get my razor blades out, not just yet. America is 232 years young. And it's good to be depressed now and then, anyway. The rainbow after the storm will look ever more beautiful..