Like many Americans, I fly a lot. And so when I heard that 50 people died in the Continental Airlines crash, I said that could have been me, and it could have been you.
Fate is one of the things we can't control. Our sympathies go out to the families of the crash victims.
And many of us are victims of the brutal recession in America. Again, we did nothing to deserve this. Most Americans are hard-working honest people who pay their mortgages and don't steal money in rigged business deals.
But the government let us down and allowed business gangsters to run wild. And there's absolutely nothing we can do about it.
That's frustrating, and it makes people angry. Why should we suffer when we did nothing wrong and the government we hire by our votes to represent us was too lazy or dumb to protect us? Both parties are to blame.
But if we dwell on stuff like this, we become cynical and unhappy. So the best thing to do is to ride it out.
Thursday on "The Radio Factor," I got a call from a young guy in Utah. He lost his job, he has three small children and no money. So what did he do? Well, he joined the National Guard. Now the government will pay for much of his college, and he'll be able to feed his kids.
That's an example of an American rolling with it, making the best out of a bad situation and even contributing to society after fate whacked him. That's how we all have to think. We can turn a bad situation into something positive.
Life is tough. It isn't fair. Bad things happen to good people. All of those cliches. But if we survive fate, it tends to make us stronger if we are smart about it.
And that's "The Memo."
Pinheads & Patriots
Our pal Warner Wolf, who does sports on the "Imus" radio program, opined on Valentine's Day with a little joke:
"Do you know what Adam said when Eve asked him if he loved her?"
"Who else?"
Now, if you like the joke, Mr. Wolf is a patriot. If you don't, well you didn't. I thought it was kind of cute. "Who else?" There's nobody else. Just her.
On the pinhead front, times are very tough for the airline industry, competition brutal. A British carrier, Virgin Airlines, is now flying from Boston and New York to L.A., and some U.S. carriers don't like that at all, saying it's better to fly American airlines. Well, Virgin CEO Richard Branson put on a Wonder Woman costume and replied.
Click here to watch "Pinheads & Patriots"!
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD BRANSON, CEO, VIRGIN AIRLINES: I tell you what, Alaska Airways, they put out a statement yesterday saying that we weren't really American, and I'd like to say to Alaska Airlines: (PULLS UP SKIRT AND "MOONS" CAMERA)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Is Branson a pinhead? You make the call.
— You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" and "Pinheads & Patriots" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the FOX News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com
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