Just in case those god damned earthquakes in Haiti haven’t been enough to make you grateful for what you’ve got, maybe this new accoustic track from Patterson Hood will make your quality of life seem more tangible, at least related to previous generations of Americans and what they’ve been through.

Granted, you’re APR probably does suck fat, sweaty, blue-blooded banker balls, but the amount of flour you can consume in a week isn’t rationed by the government—although a butter ration may not be the worst thing for this country right now, well for everyone except me.

Grocery prices may be up and tomatoes may not have flavor anymore, but 100 million acres of farm soil hasn’t eroded and turned to dust—then again, now that I think of it, this tomato thing is really pissing me off. But still, flavorless, genetically altered tomatoes may get us down, but it’s no Great Depression—more like a Great Annoyance. At least so far.

I’m not saying things aren’t really shitty now, but we’ve still got it good… enough, I think. Well, fuck if I know. I guess it’s not really a competition for the superlative. My point is, people have been through tough shit before, but they always found a way to clear out their bowels.

Listen to “Depression Era” by Patterson and see if you can figure something out. My take is, we need to toughen up, stop complaining, and wait until we’re older and the world changes again before we kill someone just because shit ain’t right—though it’ll be a pretty long list by the time I hit my 80’s.

Patterson’s got it up as a free download on his page, here.