When people feel “made wrong,” or when they feel themselves to somehow be “not good enough” in any given moment, they often react with anger.
This may simply be the nature of being human – until it is not. Consider the following narrative from Linda in our last Comments Section…

I was at a Walmart where I live that morning (the Friday after Thanksgiving), and when I left I waited while a minivan being driven by a woman, began to pass an aisle for parking, and proceeded to cross. What I was not watching was her next intention she had to back up, and return to that aisle for a parking space she seemed to have missed. All I head was a lot of people behind her screaming to stop, and the next thing I knew the minivan was about a 1/4 inch from my feet, I could feel the tires rotating. If it had not taken a slight swerve when she backed up, I would have been under it. And all she did was scream at me for being in her way?

Linda, I am so sorry that this happened to you. What I am beginning to learn, as I headlined above, is that whenever even the nicest, most wonderful people feel themselves to be made wrong, or if they feel that they have somehow not measured up and they see that this fact is clear to everyone, sometimes anger moves in. What I feel sure is happening here is that people are actually angry with themselves – or, perhaps, with “the situation” – but they don’t know where to go with their flash of anger, and so they lash out at the person next to them.
Often we try to make someone else the cause of whatever has gone wrong. That way we don’t have to feel such shame and self-loathing. What I believe could be wonderfully beneficial in our society today are anger management classes, to help all of us see the cause of our anger, and to assist us in learning how to better deal with this emotion. I want to send blessings to the lady in the store parking lot, and my best hope that she can return to loving herself very quickly.
MJinba, commenting here, puts it wonderfully..

We cannot change anything for the better without reaching out to the best in each other, nor the best in ourselves. Say what you like, I will not relinquish belief in the portion of God that lives within us all.

God bless you, my friend. That is exactly what I was hoping to be saying myself. You put it so much better.
And speaking of reaching out to the best in each other, thank you, Neil, for your very positive note to me, ending with…

that which is divine in me gives a big fat hug to that which is divine in you (and heck, a hug to that which “isn’t divine” in you too).

I appreciate your kind words…and I especially appreciate the big hug you were willing to give to that which is not divine in me. Because there is plenty. And I am, because of messages such as yours, learning to love myself anyway, just as I am…and just as I hope the lady in the parking lot will…
Stormy Music said…

What the people did to the WalMart employee was not an example of higher consciousness but merely a byproduct of the ideology that has been expressed about Black Friday for a long time. People are responsible for their own actions in this regard, but I can’t help but hold corporations like WalMart somewhat responsible for perpetuating the ideology that causes such insanity.

Yes, StoryMusic, I observe that the problem runs rampant throughout our entire society here on the earth, placed in our consciousness by a larger cultural story that tells us there is Not Enough. You make this exact point in your opening words… “The American mentality these days seems to really be centered around the idea that there just isn’t enough.” I would gently add that it is not just “these days.” Our cultural story has been telling us this for millennia. And so, the answer is: create a new cultural story. A story of “enoughness.” A story of sufficiency.
So long as we believe that there is “not enough,” we will call ourselves into competition. We even think that there is somehow not enough of God, or of God’s love, to go around, so we compete even for that. We call these competitions “religions.” We jump around like so many puppies in a kennel, hoping to be the most pleasing one, hoping that God will “take me home.”
Yes, our answer here is education. A new story to tell our children, and theirs. A story of endless love, endless supply, and an end to our competitions to get “the stuff of which there’s Not Enough.”
Wendy is right where I am on this…as were many of those Commenting here. Wenday said…

Yes indeed, a re-education of today’s children is exactly what is needed!
But first, a re-education of today’s parents/caregivers/teachers… ADULTS.
First, people must have a new understanding of today’s children, before they are willing to embrace the fact that they must be educated in a different fashion- just as the masses needed to be introduced to a new understanding of God before change occurred.
Oh yes, the CAUSE of the problem is where we must start. And the cause is people’s misunderstanding of the truth. It is time to teach anew.

I profoundly agree. We must get to the parents. We must get to the adults. Otherwise, who will teach the children these new ideas? And just what are the ideas that we are talking about here?
Marko feels this way…

I tend to think that we should emphasize the education, discussion and experimentation of the concept of personal and collective creation or the current popular term the Law of Attraction.

Yes, Marko, but the complete information, not just the partial information, about how that works. Most of the touting of the so-called Law of Attraction says nothing about the Law of Opposites – or, for that matter, any of the other basic principles of life. The result: people are attempting to use the Law of Attraction approach to manifestation, and often failing to see the outcomes they are trying to call forth.
I’m sorry if it sounds as if I am just promoting my own book, here…but I think that the information in Happier Than God about how to use the Process of Personal Creation can make an important difference in how we use – and, Marko, how we teach our children about – the Law of Attraction.
SheerLuckHolmes, I loved your commentary, too. Yes, very insightful, and right on target. But I was particular struck with your closing observation…

This past weekend the fact was retail sales were 3% ahead of last years Thanksgiving weekend. But the news media, in particular the New Your Times, reported that the 3% increase was too early to be a fair indicator of the coming holiday season. Consumers are worried about the economy and spending could nose dive any time to produce the worst holiday season in many years. The good news isn’t shocking enough for the media, they have spin it into doom and gloom to sell more newspapers, commercial time and create more dependence upon themselves. Talk about your brood of vipers! Sheeech!

I, too, am seeing more and more of this every day – more, even, than usual. Yes, God forbid that the media might see the upswing in sales as anything in the least, tiny bit, positive. I can see those editors in those newsrooms now…”There must be some way to turn this into a negative story. Think, people, think!
I’m just about ready to give up completely on the news media. I think we need to call a spade a spade. I think we need to call it the Bad News Media – and then just stop reading it and listening to it and watching it. It’s gotten to the point where just about all I can watch of the evening news anymore is The News Hour with Jim Lerher on PBS. At least the shrill tone is gone, and at least there is some attempt at objectivity.
Say, listen, this is turning into the Longest Blog In The World. So I just want you to know that I appreciate all of your contributions and dialogue here. It’s a good community. Thanks for being in it.
Back soon. In the meantime, I wonder what you think about this…what is it in the hearts of people that causes us to look for the negative aspect and the “down side” of everything??? The Bad News Media is, after all, only a reflection of us. We don’t buy, they don’t sell. So what is it, do you think, that finds so many people so pulled to negative, fearful energy in every situation?