She's gonna blow!

There are a few hot button issues that can enrage me in .03 seconds.  Corn chip crunchers in Mexican restaurants and bags of dog doo-doo alongside hiking trails (“I’ll pick it up on the way out,” one dude told me when I caught him leaving Fido’s prezzies). Right.  Sure you will.  Oh wait, there’s another one: the song, “I’m Sorry,” by Brenda Lee. 

My sister finds my metamorphosis -from nice, normal person to I-wanna-lob-a-missle-at-the-speaker maniac - particularly amusing when we are at a community pool and that horrid song begins playing.

We all have plenty of these sort of pet peeves.  What about the other, how shall we put this, less petty hot button topics?

If I say something like, “Trump is the greatest president ever!” that is likely to trigger someone into a fit.  Just as “Trump should be strung up by his danglies in the public square!” will elicit an equally strong response in those with an opposing viewpoint. 

People, if you find yourself responding viscerally to someone’s opinion, that’s a good clue that there is a need for some inner sleuthing.  Why are you so rattled?  Why are you so threatened by someone else’s opinion?

But the biggest question – why the hell was “I’m Sorry” such a big hit?  There are some mysteries that I will never understand.  But I digress.

Do you really want to spend your energy getting your panties in a wad every time your world is rocked by a different viewpoint?  Not only is this fruitless, it negatively impacts your physical health with stress hormones.

Spend your energy figuring out what’s setting you off.  And fer the love of God, if you hike with your pooch, pick up the, well, you know.