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This week, I depart from my regularly-scheduled marketing advice to delve into a bit of social commentary.  Hey, it’s my blog, right?

I tend to be a little oblivious to the world around me at times.  But this week, something came crashing in on me…repeatedly.  Without describing the events in fine detail, let’s just say it’s dawning on me that people in general are really, really pissed off about something a bit more aggressive than usual.

Whether I’m elbowing people in line at the store, fending off angry drivers in a race to nowhere (while, of course, talking on the cell phone and looking for…something, I guess…under the passenger seat), or just plain being confronted for inconsequential or silly things, I’m starting to sense a little anger in the American public.

Is it selfishness?  Maybe.  Is it stress from work (for those working) or unemployment?  Maybe.  The price of gas?  Tax season?  Eric Mangini (I’m from Cleveland)? Is it a slow burn over the repeated and systemic injustices that seem to be cascading from Wall Street and Pennsylvania Avenue onto Main Street like some kind of massive septic tank overflow?

Maybe.

I’m probably not qualified to go into the causes and effects of The Great Recession, the sociological impact of modern corporate culture and business practice, or even the ways and means by which our most basic social interactions are changing, quite possibly for the worse.  I’ll let you buy me a beer sometime and share my thoughts then.

However, as a member of Society At Large, I am qualified to suggest that maybe, just maybe, we ALL should un-tether, circle back, regroup, reconnect, revisit and refocus.  Are we mad at BarackObama/GeorgeBush/RichardFuld/Myboss/TheIRS?  Or are we mad at everyone around us?  Well, folks, I’ve got news for ya’.  Cutting someone off on the highway, yelling at the cashier for incorrect change, beating up on a friend who made a mistake—well, that’s not really sticking it to the people you’re mad at.  That’s just poisoning your own well.

For whatever it’s worth, times are tough for all.  I’m told that, during the REAL Great Depression, people dealt with the misery by banding together, taking joy in the things that really matter—family, health, free things.  They did their best to enjoy The Journey, so to speak, rather than The Destination.  Today, however, we seem to be taking solace in our 52” TVs (and yes, I am bitter because I want one too) and a couple of angry American Idol judges insulting performers, or a few entitled twenty-somethings engaging in some kind of warped social experiment through “reality TV.”  Am I missing something here?

Maybe I am.  Maybe I should learn to deal with it.  Or better yet, maybe we all should learn to deal a bit better.  I know that I, for my part, am going to think twice the next time my pizza order gets screwed up.  After all, the pizza delivery guy didn’t invest in subprime ….