HAS THIS BECOME A NATION OF WHINERS?

Earlier generations in America built railroads. Our generation writes memos.

People who founded this nation were a hearty lot. Absent the comfort of interstates, air-conditioning and fast-food drive-thrus, pioneers hitched up their wagons and settled the wilderness. Where a flat tire can ruin a day on modern vacations, these folks persevered through the frequent loss of kinfolk to disease.

Perhaps history books overlooked the fact that American settlers were among the worst gripers this planet has seen, but I don't doubt it. More likely they were a stoic bunch that accepted life's misfortunes as a matter of course.

There was a time when the West wasn't the place where Denver and Los Angeles and Portland were located ... it was just the West, a bunch of untamed land. And determined men and women used their considerable wits, and meager amounts of whatever else was at their disposal, to make this broad sweep of continent livable.

They figured out how to get there and get other people there. They figured out how to divert or contain or manage the elements. They figured out how to use the resources for commercial purposes. All of this from nothing ... ~except spirit.

Within this context, I tend to agree with the premise promoted in a new book by Charles J. Sykes: America has adopted a "culture of victimization."

Put another way, the footsteps of robust souls are being followed by a citizenry of crybabies.

News accounts of this book, "A Nation of Victims: The Decay of the American Character," point to Syke's contention that people now whine in circumstances where they once coped. Setbacks inspire self-pity these days, not the chutzpah of times gone by.

Obviously, this is not a blanket indictment. Certainly, no one could witness the tenacious, even heroic, resistance to flood waters of late and claim the grit of pioneer days has expired.

On the other hand, the nation west of the Carolinas might never have been settled had there been feasibility studies to conduct, environmental impact reports to file and litigious considerations to weigh.

Were Lewis and Clark a law firm and not a pair of explorers, everything west of the Mississippi would be uninhabited and every other building east of the Mississippi would be a courthouse.

Sykes claims society reinforces victim mentality by rewarding irresponsible behavior. One case the author cites has a man injuring himself attempting a backflip in a bar, then suing the bartender and getting a $5,000 settlement.

"Americans seem to feel today that no injury should go uncompensated, even if it was their own fault," Sykes told a San Francisco gathering last week.

"Now if you sleep around, gamble away your money, drink yourself into the gutter or ignore your family, you are no longer irresponsible, but merely in need of treatment."

And if treatment is not forthcoming, you are a victim again. Since pleasure and fulfillment are entitlements, so too must be the support mechanisms needed to put every American on the same satisfied level.

Finger-pointing should be made an Olympic sport. Behind-covering should be the latest dance step.

While dysfunctions might mean a paycheck for Oprah and Phil and Geraldo, they are now arrows aimed at the heart of the preceding generation; if persons, no matter what age, experience frustration with life, they can always blame their parents.

Only now that I have children and am getting older can I lovingly recognize the imperfections of my parents. And even if I felt their actions or neglect or discipline shaped me in some detrimental way, what useful purpose does it serve to dwell on that?

(Know that some children are due harsh feelings about their raising; sufferers of abuse and, on the other end of the spectrum, those who received no direction from parents hold legitimate claims. However, are those people helped by a "big-tent" theory of victimization? I don't think so.)

American business takes a hint from its governmental brethren in an uncomfortable and unproductive manner. If the road to hell is paved with drunkards, then the road to bureaucracy is paved to memorandums.

And while communication is a crucial part of any business, many a memo is written, many a meeting is called and many a report is filed for the purpose of documenting conduct that can be cited when things go awry. (So, in that case, those involved can shrug off blame and say, "Hey, we wrote a memo and had a meeting," and so on.)

Try finding someone to hold accountable when things foul up in one of the federal acronym agencies. Bureaucrats run for cover and memos are held forward as shields.

It is not the least bit surprising that major corporations, when looking to downsize in a weakened economy, took aim neither at top executives (those at the top have no death wish) nor at rank-and-file workers (are bosses going to staff the assembly lines?) but at middle managers, who manufacture 90 percent of the world's memos.

Sykes, whose book sounds like it might contain a bit of moralizing, believes that Americans now expect life to be pain-free. Pain-free is a nice state of being, but it seldom breaks new ground. That the founders of this nation accepted setbacks better than their descendants speaks badly of the progress of this society.