Why Are We So Angry?

It's been a rough day for human behaviour. In the news today a flight attendant was clocked by a suitcase wielding passenger who refused to sit down before the plane came to a “full and complete stop”. In a fit of pique, no doubt preceded by a myriad of soul destroying insults, the JetBlue attendant grabbed a couple of beers and launched the emergency slide, slipping into the freedom of the wide open tarmac. Whee!

A young woman desperate for chicken nuggets first thing in the morning pummelled a few beleagured fast food workers who were just trying to serve breakfast. The depth and fury of her rage is staggering – if you watch the video you can only assume that either she has gone off the deep end, or is under the influence of some fairly powerful pharmaceuticals.

A bench clearing brawl saw the entire roster of both the Cincinati Reds and the St. Louis Cardinals wrestling and struggling in a sea of fists and elbows. The brouhaha was such a disaster that officials could have either ended the game, or throw both the managers out and leave the hooligans on the field. Millions and millions of dollars of horse meat risked life, limb and their careers for a relatively minor altercation.

So what's got us so pissed?

Every generation feels that “life has gone mad” that “things are much worse now than they were then”; all of us remember the past with nostalgia and forget how things really were. Historically, the turn of a century leads to much angst about the state of “modern” life. Millenarianism is nothing new.

But does that tell the whole truth? Is it not possible that our lives, at this point in history, have reached a point of desperation and frustration that is unprecedented? Best case scenario? Most of us toil in jobs we don't like or struggle to get a job we won't like, pay massive mortgages on homes we cannot afford, carry debt for things we do not need and sit in traffic that makes us wish our lives away. We are expected to be reachable, in contact, in conversation almost 24 hours a day. The level of noise in our lives has hit ear splitting levels. With Torontonians facing 90 minute commutes, homes that range from 5-9 times our average incomes and daily disruptions that make our already busy city completely gridlocked, it's a small miracle that there aren't more outbursts. We are stretched to our breaking point. And sometimes, we snap.

The sad thing is we turn on each other, instead of on the real issue.

We run roughshod over another person because our lives are so out of balance that the perceived win of being a “few minutes early” or “avoiding a lineup” is more important than another human being. What we need to understand is why are we in such a big hurry? Who asked us to perform our lives at this pace? Why do we let it happen?

We abuse a service person because we cannot get what we want when we want it. What is it that has us feeling so low and out of control of our lives that this is the only way we can satisfy ourselves or feel important? When did chicken nuggets replace meaning?

We get road rage, speed, tailgate, and endanger our fellow man because we feel trapped. How did we get ourselves into the job, the mortgage, the commute and the debt in the first place? Why don't our bankers feel the pinch?

We're angry alright, but we're angry with ourselves. We did this to ourselves.

So how do we undo it?

There is a sense, in the world, right now, of a crossroads, of a choice for change that has to be entered into willingly. There has to be a better way to live our lives, with peace and respect for our fellow humans, free from the simmering rage that appears to be just below the surface everywhere we look. I have to think this same way would have less of an impact on our environment and ourselves.

I'm not sure what that is yet, but I'll keep you posted.