I’m generally a fairly cynical person. I’m a misanthrope. Most people annoy me, and I can only take them in small doses.

I have decided to stop blogging about politics for a while. Mostly because I’m disgusted.

Rob and I were discussing this very topic last night at dinner. I told him I was sickened by what I saw happening in this country. Everything from the absolute repugnant corruption of the current administration, the growth of big government and the nanny state, the efforts to control everything from what we eat and drink to whom we screw and with whom we choose to spend our lives. I’m tired of the same establishment crap getting elected year after year, and then listening to people complain about it, as if their vote had nothing to do with it.

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. So I’m just withdrawing myself from the insanity for a while. I’m going to sit back and watch the idiots in this country line up like lemmings behind Mittens RomneyCare and every other establishment tool out there and then listen as they complain about this country going in the wrong direction.

It’s been a stressful week, filled with a lot of crazy, unexpected expenses, so I’ve been kind of bitter and angry.

And then I read something that restores my faith in Americans – at least for a little bit.

A military veteran lost his job and got so desperate for money, he decided to sell his medals on Ebay! This makes my financial problems look inconsequential and my petty complaints weak in comparison. Perspective. She is a bitch.

When he returned, he lost his job to the bad economy.

Two-and-a-half years later, he still can’t find full-time work.

“I’ve tried until the point where I started my own business and went door to door because, at a certain point, you can’t sit around and wait for somebody to call you. You have to get active and make some money,” said Shephard.

The former army specialist started a lawn-care business with his old push mower.

But Shephard needed better equipment to make more money, so two days ago he decided to auction off one of his army medals – but viewers wouldn’t stand for it.

Dozens of emails and phone calls were made offering assistance.

Now apparently his NCO had a problem with this. It’s a slap in the face of a military, he claims.

Sorry, I disagree. A slap in the face of the military would be to allow himself to starve or go on public assistance, instead of using the ingenuity and integrity the military has instilled in you to pull yourself out of a hole. In desperate times you do what you have to do. He’s not throwing his medals away a la John Kerry and the jackholes of Iraq Veterans Against the War. This guy has a kid, and he’s trying to get through the best he can. A medal isn’t just a piece of metal with some cloth on it. He’s earned it. He will always have that achievement, whether he has the actual piece of metal or not on his mantle. At least he will have done everything possible to support himself and his family.

It’s nice to see Americans pitch in to help, and I’m gratified to see a man work to get himself out of a bad financial situation.

That brings some tears of joy, even in my current foul mood.