This is an edited extract from an article I wrote in 2004 for the Herald Sun titled ‘Why is everyone so angry all the time?’ It still seems relevent today. But the best bit is:
“Why are there so many angry people? The first reason is stress. Modern life (including wars and pandemics) is demanding what with the bills, the job, the traffic, the blood pressure pills and rushing around. Then there are the bureaucracies. Large companies today don’t listen, don’t care. You get fobbed off with recorded messages. You line up to fill your own petrol tank and then line up to pay. You can’t even get off a mailing list. This apology was printed recently in Harvard Magazine. ‘We have learned that the obituary of Erik Humphrey Gordon ’95, which appeared in the July-August ‘01 issue, was based on false information provided by the subject himself in an effort to get off Harvard’s mailing list. Mr Gordon is alive and well in New York City. We apologise for the error.’ Bravo Mr Gordon. He got imodern life namely that you have to stage your own death just to get off a bloody annoying email list!!!!! “