The Last Nerve

Often, to help in an attempt to cope with bad behavior, people say, "Try putting yourself in their place and maybe you be a bit more understanding." Well, I find that this works well with just about every emotion I am faced with except one. Irritation. No matter how much I try to empathize with someone who is visibly irritated, I can't seem to find that groove. Now first let me qualify my observation as one who sits on both sides of the fence fairly often. And for the life of me even when I'm irritated I catch myself chastising my own emotional state. I often catch myself telling my 13 year old son, "Look, people are not here to irritate you."

Humorous statements like, "I'm allergic to stupid." or "she's not the brightest bulb in the store." say volumes about what is going on inside a person. I bet if we had a large LCD display that displayed what was going on in our minds, floating above our heads for all to see there would be less of that. That's one good definition of discipline I think, the ability to be accountable to oneself inwardly not just outwardly. In fact I would go so far as to say that is a strong characteristic of good character.

I think if a person can somehow become aware of this state of mind they can really move mountains and become a part of the solution not the problem. If that makes any sense.

Maybe I'm wrong but, as yet another birthday approaches, I find myself becoming more and more allergic to people who are allergic to stupid.

Are there meds for that? I wonder.