Let me tell you, it ain’t easy.

We are surrounded by anger, fear, nastiness, and negativity. It comes from all walks of life, from all political and religious affiliations, from the haves and the have nots, from those who think they’re in the right to those who fear they are always wrong.

It’s my way, or the fucking highway.

Sorry for swearing, but I’ve really had enough.

Life has become a nonstop display of one-upmanship. I mean, are we all so freaking miserable that we have nothing else to do but go around pecking at each other like a bunch of diseased chickens?

If everyone had their way, you would NEVER:

Feed your kids crap (you’re poor and ignorant and you’re ruining their precious snowflake brains)

Feed your kids organic food (you’re a liberal elitist and never let your kids have any fun)

Shop on Black Friday (You’re part of the problem. Be like me and pay full price for your Mac you vile scum)

Eat at McDonald’s (It’s not real food! Jaime Oliver says so)

Take your kid outside without a hat (Because frostbite. And fashion)

Eat food that comes from China (They sneak arsenic into everything because they are both evil and stupid)

Eat bananas (They don’t even come from this hemisphere!)

Be liberal (You’re an anti-American terrorist-worshiping elitist who hates God and kittens)

Be conservative (Because George W. Bush)

Question anything (Because you always were so bossy)

Put too many pictures of yourself having fun on Facebook (You think you’re so great)

Avoid Facebook (What? Do you think you’re better than me?)

Play video games (Seriously? The Downfall of Civilization)

Watch sports (See above)

Dress fashionably and enjoy shopping (You’re so shallow)

Not care about how you look (You’re a dirty hippie who never has any fun)

ENOUGH!!!

Here’s a tip: life is really, really, really freaking short. It will be over before you have a chance to notice how short it is.

Figure out what makes you happy. WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY?????

Your answer may NOT be one of the following:

• Other people doing what you want them to do
• Other people living life the way you think they should be living it
• Other people paying attention to you
• Other people not screwing you over
• Other people not screwing other people over
• Other people coming to you
• Other people getting out of your way
• Other people keeping neat and clean and saying nice words
• Other people doing things that make sense to you
• Other people saying things you agree with and understand
• Other people not scaring you
• Other people giving a shit about you

Here are some better options:

• Make stuff. Create stuff.
• Be active. Move your body.
• Learn something.
• Fix things. NOT people.
• Focus only on improving yourself, NOT others.
• Eat delicious food that makes you happy. Don’t pay any attention to what other people are eating.
• Take pictures. Yourself. Don’t worry about the pictures other people may or may not be taking.
• Read books. If you think they all suck, write your own.
• Chocolate.
• Good coffee.
• Put on your favorite music and dance around. And don’t do it because you want someone to see you being joyous.
• Makes lists of everything in your life that is wonderful and perfect. If you do this every day, the lists get longer and longer.
• Watch awesome movies. Make popcorn.
• Take naps.
• Take baths.
• Take walks.

When I taught eighth grade I realized that I would never have anything to complain about ever again. I had two students who brought their laundry to the school nurse because they lived in a car. I had a student who was horribly burned because his father set him and his sister on fire. I had a student who had no curfew because her mother went out partying every night. I had a student who told me that no adult ever smiled at her over the course of a day.

Get over yourselves people.

Whatever self-righteous indignation you may be holding close, tear it to pieces and flush it away.

Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder.

Be joyful. Be contagious.