How to be angry: A basic primer.

       As any regular reader, anyone who knows me, indeed anyone who has ever met me knows, I am an expert on being angry.  I am well read on the topic, (One must forgive one's enemies, but not before they are hanged. -Heinrich Heine-), and I am observant enough to be an expert based purely on experience.  So I will present to the rest of you a simple review of how to be angry.
       I have often told my children not to look for things to be mad about; the world will give you plenty of reasons.  That is more true than anything I have ever written.  But simply being angry is doing nothing more than shortening your life, and diminishing the quality thereof.  You must act on it.  First though, you must know who to direct the anger toward.
       Let's say you are angry that you don't get enough respect, or make enough money, at work.  I'm guessing that is most of you.  Take that anger, frustration, and bile, direct it at the person responsible; yourself, and go sign up for school.  Or go put in resumes at other companies.  Most of you reading this live in America, which means although it might be hard, nothing is stopping you from bettering yourself.  If you fail, you failed while trying.
       (It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. -Theodore Roosevelt-)
       Now let's say you are angry at the government, for any of a thousand legitimate reasons.  Did you vote? Judging by the turnout numbers, no.  But if you did, was your candidate elected?  No?  Did you actively campaign for that person?  I'm not saying it's your fault they didn't win, just that the other side tried harder and you did not.  So direct that energy again toward the person responsible for your situation, which again is you, and next time try harder to campaign for your person.  (A vote is like a rifle; its usefulness depends upon the character of the user. -Theodore Roosevelt-)
       By now, since you are clever enough to have read this far, you have noticed a pattern.  Only you are responsible for your situation.  I would also point out that one thing to not do, is just complain to strangers on the internet.  Hypocritical?  Not in my case.  I also make it a point to write, call, harass, pester, and badger my elected officials to do things the way I want.  I am currently in school again.  I try to guide others to do what they know is right.  (notice I did not say "gently guide", I don't do gentle.)
       I leave you with a parting thought.  I am trying to make you mad at me, for telling you to blame yourself. Take that anger, and hate me.  It's not like I care.  But use it as a source of inspiration to better your situation.  (It does not take a majority to prevail... but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men. -Samuel Adams-)  And when you do act, remember you have been trolled into doing it.  (Mark this well, you proud men of action: You are nothing but the unwitting agents of the men of thought who often, in quiet self-effacement, mark out most exactly all your doings in advance.  -Heinrich Heine-)

A mile in you shoes...

This is my first post in a while.  I am currently between semesters.  I will start with a lighter topic, while I acclimate to the real world.

       Lately I have seen more than a few posts on social media about not judging someone until you have struggled to walk in their shoes.  Some even stating that someone else could not have made it as far.  Sorry.  I'm calling B.S.

       First off, there is no way to measure this, so it is inherently false.  Second, to assume that someone else, in a similar situation could not possibly get as far as you, by whatever standard of success you chose to employ, is based wholly on arrogance.  The superiority complex driving this assumes that, not only is no one better than you, but that you gave your best effort, all the time.  We both know that isn't true.

       You know who could have gotten further than me in less time?  Damn near anyone.  I did not have a perfect upbringing, but I had many advantages that are denied to most.  My parents were together, they did their best to put some morality in me (for all the good it did...), I had some supervision and discipline, I had access to computers early on, etc.

       My biggest obstacle was myself.  I was observant enough to see the "good-old-boy" network in its glory, in the dung-heap of a city called Chicago.  I had no confidence in myself, despite tests scores telling me I should.  All I saw was that, being not born to privilege, I would be denied success.  Any success stories of others from working class families, I wrote off as statistical outliers.  (Which they are, but that is for another time)  A little cognitive dissonance would have served me well.

       So I will not say that someone else could not have done better.  Hell, most people probably could have.  But to say that no one can judge you until they have been you, assumes they never had it worse.  If you posted that on a social media site, most of the world has it worse than you.  And by the way, they have bigger problems than Starbuck's being out of their favorite flavoring.