A recent encounter with a friend has caused me to ponder the reasons so many people are short-tempered these days. Yes, it’s election time so we’re hearing nasty ads for the pros and cons of issues and candidates. The economy is horrible so there are lots of us with money concerns. But I think there’s more to it than that. Right now as I’m typing on my computer I can hear a news program in the other room. Three men are talking at once and they sound as if they would like to throttle one another. They’re outraged, they’re shocked by what they hear and they’re angry. In addition they’re rude. Whatever happened to newsmen and women taking turns when they talk? What happened to calm reporting without the hype and the angst? We’re living in a time in which it’s become acceptable to behave as if our pants are on fire, the world is coming to an end right now and anything goes.

When I was about eight years old I fell on the school playground and scraped my knee. It hurt like the dickens and as two friends came over to help me up, I lashed out at them to “leave me alone!” I instantly regretted my behavior because it had come out of the pain and not out of true anger at them. And that’s what I’ve decided about all those apoplectic newscasters and politicians.  They aren’t really outraged, they’re just taking advantage of  those of us who are hurting. As soon as their audience, the common man and woman in the street, realize they have a choice about living in an atmosphere of anger and outrage or common sense and good will, maybe they’ll stop being so prickly and calm down. Maybe they’ll take an honest look at the reasons they’re so upset and begin to calmly work out solutions. I don’t hold out any hope for the television heads though. They do all that arguing and shouting because it makes money. I’ve vowed not to pay them any attention until they change their behavior and follow the rules they learned in  elementary school–until they learn to listen, take their turn and speak in nice, pear-shaped tones.