Are you one of the angry ones?

Are you one of those people walking around on permanent simmer? Where the slightest push causes you to boil over?

It seems like everyone is just plain pissed. Pissed at everyone and everything. I walk down the street and everyone's frowning. I stop at a light and look at the driver next to me and she's frowning. I listen to the radio and I hear angry voices. Fuses are short, tolerance is nil, empathy is nonexistent.

Fingers are cocked and loaded and ready to be pointed. Everyone's paranoid. Someone else might be getting something that I didn't get and that pisses me off! Someone's doing something a different way than I would do it and that pisses me off!

"I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!"

Great line from a great movie. But Howard Beale ended up shooting himself in the head, too.

You know, a common refrain from adults these days is that kids are out of control. No one teaches them respect or manners anymore. Kids are allowed to do what they want and say what they want without any fear of discipline, because no one's disciplining their kids.

Yet I see more rudeness and disrespect from adults today that I ever have, particularly on this, the Internet. The amount of name calling and "fuck yous" I read every single day is astounding. If you say something I disagree with, fuck you! If you disagree with something I say, fuck you! Go check out the usenet. Better yet, post something. Something completely innocuous, like, "It's National Poetry Month." Then give it a day and see the responses you get. You might think that they'd be of the, "Great, thanks!" or, "I didn't know that!" or maybe even a polite "I'm not a big fan of poetry" variety, and while you may get a few responses like that, there won't be many. No, the thread will quickly sink into a predictable abyss of insults and namecalling.

How so very second grade.

It's no wonder kids have no manners anymore; the adults they're supposed to learn from treat each other like shit.

I really don't want to be one of those people. I want my kids, other people's kids, and anyone else who comes in contact with me to think, that Jeff's a pretty good guy. He may be a moron sometimes, but he treats people with respect.

I'm not what you'd call a religious person, but there are a few things I learned in Sunday School years ago that stick with me. Two in particular are: Judge not lest ye be judged thyself; and Do unto others as thou wouldst have them do unto you.

I want to be treated with respect.

How about you?

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