From the Mainstream News: “Nearly three-quarters of people blamed work and money as the main sources of stress in their lives…”

I love these surveys that give us a great revelation that could be absolutely no surprise to anyone…  Though, who knows, maybe it is a surprise.  So often, the individual American is convinced that his or her worries are just a personal problem, not something that could be affecting almost everyone…

So, this survey got mentioned in an article in Yahoo/Reuters with a first line that says, “Worries about work and money are causing one-third of Americans to suffer from extreme stress, driving them to overeat, drink, and smoke.”  That’s certainly something worth mentioning, even though it’s sort of something that we already knew.  But even better, I think, is the information that it gives about THREE-QUARTERS of Americans:

Nearly three-quarters of people blamed work and money as the main sources of stress in their lives, followed by workload and children.  Low salaries, too much work and a lack of opportunity were the main reasons for stress at work.

I’ve bolded/emphasized the last line, because that is something we really ought to remember.  So often, we are given this misinformation that Americans are content with their financial situation, that we’re this prosperous country that merely suffers from too much privilege and opportunity.  I see this information coming even more often from people on the left than on the right.  And I suppose that most of us are better off than the  majority of people in the world, who suffer from extreme poverty.  But that doesn’t mean we’re really well off, or that we’re content with our economic situations and our jobs.  Especially worth noting is that line about “lack of opportunity.”  It kind of contradicts so many myths and so much propaganda.

But the most amusing line in the whole article was the first line of the last paragraph:

Newman advised people to take a closer look at what is causing stress as a first step to dealing with it better.

Then it goes on to say that:

About half of people who participated in the poll conducted by Harris Interactive found reading, listening to music and exercising useful in relieving stress.  Forty percent said spending time with family and friends helped, and 34 percent prayed. 

But does that have anything to do with what it says in the first sentence of this paragraph, about taking a closer look at the cause of that stress?  The paragraph seems to go somewhere else.

It seems obvious to me that the cause of that stress which they need to take a closer look at is the stuff that the article talked about so much above:  work (especially too much work, with low salaries and lack of opportunity) and money.

That causes stress in three-quarters of Americans, but there’s a smaller number who aren’t really plagued by such problems.  And why’s that?  Could it possibly be because the overwhelming majority are suffering more in part so that they, the smaller number, can suffer much less?  Doesn’t seem exactly fair, does it?

How do you deal with these these problems of work and money that three-quarters of the population can’t get away from?  There isn’t exactly anywhere to go if a lack of opportunity is a big problem too.

And obviously, you’re not going to solve the problem for real by exercising and listening to music…  Or doing any other little activity on your own.

What is the cause of work (as we know it) and money, and what should be done about that cause?

Hmm…