Cutting anger off at the pass...

So this morning this woman came to the front desk all bent out of shape over the room she got, demanding (for no good reason) that she pay only 40 dollars for it. The room rate was at 108. Her reason was that the kids were seriously hurt by this room and that was her selfless concern. I wanted to say, honey, I think your grandkids will be more hurt by the fact that you are setting the example that it is ok to be rude and obnoxious. It got me thinking about money and what money has done to us. Almost anyone these days is willing to be a jackass if it will cause them to have more money. Later, I was looking over these forms we have to have people fill out when they rent equipment from us, you know the ones with the small writing that no one reads anyway. And, I thought how the only reason forms are overly abundant is that at some point money became more important that self-respect. Forget about the fact that you're not respecting the other person when you scheme in the name of money, you are making yourself a smaller person. But nobody cares about that anymore. They have to get manicures and buy their kids every toy on the shelf, etc, etc. Can you tell today is my day to rant on parents?!

Then, this evening I was walking my dog, enjoying the cool weather, and thinking about my friend's blog about the cute kid she saw on her walk interacting with his cute father. I was smiling at all the kids I saw with their training wheels, feeling breezy, when all of a sudden, right beside me I hear one of these cute kids screeching, as her mother beat her in broad daylight. She had hit her mother with a toy accidentally. So, the logical thing to punish someone who hurts you on accident is to hurt them on purpose. That ought to teach her a lesson. A lesson on how to be an angry person. Good job ladies!

I may not have kids, but I do get angry. And, I know that spreading that anger around, especially to children, does not make the situation any better, or the world a better place. And, what is the point of doing anything if one of those two doesn't hold true? I have been trying to be more conscious of my anger lately. Like tonight when I spilled a whole container of Aunt Jemima on my kitchen floor. I literally stopped for a moment, looked at the mess, and made the decision not to be mad about it. What good would it do anyway? And, like that, any anger that may have arisen dispersed. The focus doesn't necessarily need to be on "controlling" anger, but recognizing it in its early stages until you are so aware that you can stop it before it even starts. Anger schmanger, I say.


Interesting person #2.