Saturday, December 29, 2007

Temper & Impatience

This should have come before the new year. I've been trying to write it but I'm afraid I've lost well, the patience, with doing it. Still, even if I am setting goals belatedly, better late than never, right?

I'm working on improving my life in many ways. One area with which I struggle is in controlling my temper. Working on this is the next step in my efforts for self-improvement.

TEMPER AND PATIENCE. I remember it being an issue even as a child. "Watch out! Her face is getting red." It was the outward manifestation of inner turmoil. My temper has been an issue as long as I can remember. I think I've gotten better as I've gotten older, but you'd have to ask my family and friends about that. I try. My resolution is to try harder.

One of the important aspects in behavior control is understanding the situation around you. There are certain hot button issues that set me off. It would be help to avoid those situations that I know will trip me up.

For example: I don't like old people. Yes, I know. With God's grace I shall be old myself someday. My kids think I'm already there. Put me in a nursery full of screaming babies and I'm fine. Put me in a line in the grocery store with a couple of old people and I'm heading back to the meat department looking for the nearest butcher knife.
Mr. W: I'm cooking tonight. Could you stop and pick up some mushrooms and celery on your way home from work?
Me: No.
Mr. W: What? Why? I'll pay you back.
Me: It's not the money. It's Thursday.
Mr. W: What's that got to do with it?
Me: It's senior citizen's discount day at the grocery store. I don't GO there on senior citizen's discount day.

Get my point?

I'm not particularly patient on the roadways either. Couple that with elderly drivers and it is, for me, an explosive situation. There has been a lot of talk here and here about comments Jay Ovitorre made about Congressman Howard Coble. I'm not going to take the time (or patience) to talk about Howard's politics. However I would like to talk about Howard behind the wheel. My route into work takes me past Howard's home and there have been a number of occasions when Howard is driving on the same road, AT THE SAME TIME as me. Whether Howard should give up his Congressional seat is up for debate. As far as I'm concerned he should give up his seat behind the wheel of a car! He is dangerous. (I mentioned this to a close friend of Howard's who said it's not a matter of Howard's age. He's always been a lousy driver.)

Then there are the regular, everyday, inconsiderate folks I like to refer to as "the oblivious people." You know them. They are the people who stop their carts in the middle of the aisle whilst they peruse the shelves. They are the people who stop in the middle of the walkway to chat with their friends, without so much as a glance to see who they are blocking. They are the people who have those dog leashes with the buttons to retract the cord so that when you're approaching them on a pathway, they can pull their dogs in close but instead choose to let you have to leap over the cord while Fido chases a squirrel. They are the people (okay, it's only one person) who stands at the door looking out into the cold rain and says, "Boy! It's nasty out there! I'd hate to go out in this. Would you take this over to the Dean's office?" They are the people who hang up, without apologizing, when they dial the wrong number.

Morons, idiots, and jerks! I'm surrounded by them. But I shall try to suffer them, if not gladly, then perhaps silently.

Damn! I just blew resolution 1 didn't I?

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I live with one of the oblivious people. It's a lack of empathy - born that way and incapable of change.

January 10, 2008 11:23 PM  
Blogger Lex Alexander said...

Jim Schlosser used to tell a story, perhaps apocryphal, about Coble driving his car up the steps of one of the government buildings in Raleigh back when he was either a legislator or RevSec.

February 15, 2008 1:11 PM  

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