This World Turns on Lessons Learned

Apparently, a lot of people are bad parents.

You know how I know this? Because every day of my life, I encounter individuals who were so coddled and spoiled as children, that they now have a grossly overinflated sense of self-worth and self-importance.

Case #1:

Setup: I drive through crappy traffic every day to get to work. Part of this is my own fault, because I can't haul myself out of bed in time to beat the rush. However, that is something I know I have control over, and is not the issue at hand. I no longer get hostile during the entire 45-minute drive to work (when I live 20 minutes away); instead, certain situations make me angry.

Example: The idiots who created an extra left-turning lane, that disappears 5 feet after you turn left and everyone has to merge together, along with the people coming from another direction merging into our lane as well. Who is the brain child who thought of that and actually got it passed as a good idea?

Answer: A spoiled child who never hears "no" and always gets their way.

Case #2:

Setup: See above re: traffic.

Example: When you're in traffic, you're waiting in lines. Sometimes, those lines move fast. Most times, they move slowly or not at all. However, the line is there for a reason: everybody needs the same lane, and everybody needs to take their turn. This is where the bad-parented children make themselves known...and you can certainly pick them out of the crowd. They're the ones who see a shorter lane beside the one they want, so they fly through that lane and fly into the correct one before you even know what's happening. No blinkers either, I might add. What kind of jackass risks a multiple-vehicle collision because they feel they are soooo much more important than everyone else and don't have to wait their turn?

Answer: A spoiled child who never hears "no" and always gets their way.

Case #3:

Setup: Cell phones have become an integral part of our existence. Most of us can't imagine a time before them: when you used to be able to leave your house and actually disconnect from the world, instead of being available all the time whenever. Life was good in the days before cell phones. I'm actually old enough to remember that time, as well as life before the Internet. Imagine that.

Example: You know how sometimes, when you're walking along, enjoying the scenery, you notice a person coming toward you, looking down at their cell phone? And this person is so intent on their "conversation" via their cell phone, that they aren't looking where they're going? And because of their idiocy and self-absorption, they either brush up against you or run right into you? And you get so mad because the sidewalk is 7 feet wide, and you were on the edge of it (the sidewalk, not the brink of sanity...unless, of course, that's true, too) to begin with, and they were walking like they were drunk, veering across the whole width of the sidewalk? You ask yourself, "What kind of moron gets so wrapped up in an imaginary conversation (let's face it, it's not real communication, no matter what people think) that they don't watch where they're going?"

Answer: A spoiled child who never hears "no" and always gets their way.

Moral of the Story:

If you ever have kids, for the love of everything that is holy, tell them "no" once in a while. You at least have a fighting chance of not unleashing another awful person into this world and screwing up the rest of us.

At the very least, if you do say no to your kids, you might help calm my road rage. And that's something.