Anger Management.

There is simply no doubt about it. Anger is a growing problem in society today. Road rage is a good example

I am not qualified to say why that is, but theories range from:

• stress induced by parental pressure to succeed
• peer pressure
• anxiety induced by possible failure in exams
• diet - increased consumption of processed foods
• the influence of television, films and celebrity status
• increased materialism in society
• lack of worth while spiritual guidance
• decreased respect for authority
• foreign influence
• pop music
• leftism

I state all these points of view without expressing my own opinion. I, personally, can see several valid reasons in the above list, which has been created in random order.

However, it is very clear that we are failing in something. Our contemporaries often behave irresponsibly, our elders are often frightened to walk the streets even in daylight and our children are taking tablets to control their emotions on an unprecedentd scale!

Who or what is to blame for this increased aggression?

Who knows? Or who dares to point the finger?

The easy-going culture of the Sixties and Seventies surely made a generation of easy-going parents and maybe kids need some disclipine. The older generation were probably too subservient to authority, which caused the (over ?) reaction in the hippies.

Some foods definitely caused and still cause allergy problems, which can cause mood swings. Some people find mood swings difficult to control and that can lead to anxiety.

Government had its influence too, especially in withdrawng the school teacher's status as 'in loco parentis' (in place of the parent) while the child was in class. Anarchy in school was probably a bad idea. In fact, the UK government has tacitly acknowledged this by restoring some of the teachers' authority.

Popular music like Alice Cooper's 'School's Out' and Pink Floyd's 'Another Brick in the Wall' fuelled all this.

'The Church' has been 'exposed' to consist of priests who know as little as or indeed sometimes less than most ordinary people, about life and the hereafter, although there is still as much healthy popular inquissitiveness into spirituality as ever there was.

Another nail in the coffin of respecting authority. Politicians too have less respect that used car salesmen, especially since the scandal of MP's' expenses in the UK. The Lords were at it as well - stealing from the public coffers. Several have been dismissed and a couple have gone to jail. Others will surely follow

In other words, we are all to blame. Society has screwed up.

Not in every way, we have progressed in very many ways, but maybe we over-reacted in some fields too and maybe it's time we took a step back and re-evaluated our what we consider to be important and realized the effect we are having on our kids and society as a whole.