I’ve always believed that we can learn a lot just from observing the behavior of the people around us. Here are some things I learned today:

• Anger and despair eat you alive.

  Alright, so I already knew this one. I do my best to avoid being angry. (Despair is usually involuntary.) But if I hadn’t known all this before, observing our next-door neighbors would have taught me. They consist of a woman in her 60s (70s?) and her 40-ish daughter with her teenage daughter and pre-adolescent son. The older lady avoids making eye contact and seems miserably unhappy. Her face and body language scream defeat. The younger woman is full of rage, and that rage is directed towards anyone in her path. The kids, well, we don’t see them very often. Whenever they open their front door, the stench of cigarette smoke is overwhelming. I can’t imagine what it must be like in their apartment, except that I know screaming fights occur. And both of the women are shriveled and worn and defeated…desiccated husks of once promising lives.

• If you’re interested in what you are doing, you can be happy at any job.

  I spent some time at Mr. Telescope today. I wanted to pick up another eyepiece for my telescope – one that will enable me to see more detail in Saturn’s rings – yay! Anyways, the guys who work there always seem so happy, at a level you usually don’t encounter at a retail establishment. They’re astronomy enthusiasts and like to help you choose accessories and tell you about their own telescopes. Good for them, and good luck in continuing to operate such a specialized business in the age of Wal-Mart.

• Children should be born in intervals no less than 3 years apart.

  We were at a bookstore tonight, one that has a large children’s section with games, stuffed animals, etc… A quiet little boy, about 6 years old, picked up a small yellow stuffed elephant that he wanted and presented it to his mother. Enter the younger brother, about 5 years old, screaming, shrieking…”He already has one! I want that! Why does he always get what he wants?!?!?” A tug of war with the poor animal ensued until the mother broke it up while saying, “I didn’t say I was going to get either of you anything.” Oh yeah, that’s the way to solve the problem. Maybe if they were farther apart in age, this incident still would have happened. Of course, a 10-year old brother probably wouldn’t have wanted the same toy as a 5-year old. Note to self…

• If I carried a gun with me, I might use it.

  As we continued our day of good American consumerism, we went to a local taco shop for dinner. Standing in line behind us was one of the most unpleasant women I have ever encountered. She decided to bring a domestic squabble into the public. She was screaming at her kid, who was doing as much as he could to get as far away from her as possible. She was lecturing (loudly) to the person next to her about his lack of responsibility and how she seldom asks him to do much and on and on and on. I thought she was talking to a rebellious teenager, but I glanced behind me and she was acting like this to her husband! Poor man, he was standing with his head bowed and his shoulders hunched over. I am unable to describe just how unpleasant an experience this was. I was close to offering to adopt the kid or to be a character witness on the husband’s behalf at their divorce proceedings. Blah. I still feel edgy from the encounter.