Human beings have identifiable feelings. Which means there are things that push emotional buttons resulting in confusion and frustration. Here follows a few examples of items that elicit these feelings in me.
Bagels and English muffins. The commercial ones that are sliced are almost always not sliced all the way through. This bugs the living heebie-jeebies out of me. Ask why in any internet search engine and you’ll find a plethora of conjectures . . . none of which are satisfactory.
Turn signals. Vehicles are required by law to have them. Drivers are required by law to use them. I’m not going to guess percentages, but way too often people don’t use them. It’s like: “Guess which way I’m going to turn. Wrong! Hahahaha.”
Standing in a grocery store checkout line with someone ahead who has sixty-seven coupons to use, followed by writing out a check and penning it in the record section of the checkbook, Might as well order coffee and call up CNN news on your smart phone. There should be a special lane for those who take a half hour to check out.
Spring. Summer. Fall. Winter. There is debate on whether the seasons should be capitalized or not, with most grammaticians advising that Fall is not as special as February and Summer is not as special as Saturday. The false argument is used that months and days are proper nouns while seasons are general nouns. Balderdash!
So what’s the big deal with these four examples? Answer: somewhere between not much and nothing. Bother one as much or as little as they might, they are not life-changing or life-and-death issues. (Well, not using a turn signal could be, but most of the time not.) Point being: learn to live with the things one cannot understand or control . . . and/or organize one’s own life in ways that are personally satisfactory and which work toward personal peace.
Either don’t buy bagels or buy a commercial bagel slicer . . . that goes all the way through. Always use your turn signals and practice forgiveness for those who forget. In checkout lines, use a credit card, cash, or have your check completed except for the amount . . . and always have something to read to pass the time when waiting. Capitalize the seasons all you want in your own writings.
Choose which battles are really worth fighting. Learn calmness. Strive to make understanding and forgiveness a way of life. They all work together to help lower one’s blood pressure.
