spilled milk

Last night I ran out of milk in the middle of pouring a bowl of cereal. I don't really like opening a new bottle because the first little bit has a habit of dribbling down the side of the bottle, but I didn't have a choice unless I wanted dry cereal.

As I was pulling the plastic ring off the cap so I could open the bottle it stuck and the cap flew off spilling a bit of milk in the process. My immediate reaction was to get mad at the cap. I realized that was stupid, so I decided to get mad at the machinery that created the cap. That was more logical. After I spent a little time cleaning up I realized that even this was stupid.

Why is it that every time something mildly irritating happens my first reaction is to want to blame something or someone else? I think it is that it removes responsibility from me. I was aggravated that I had to clean up and I didn't want to be aggravated at myself.

I think this offers some explanation about how issues can escalate so quickly. If somebody cuts me off, I don't want to believe that it is because I didn't allow him the right-of-way earlier when I should have. I want to just think that the guy is a jerk. I am sure that a lot of other issues, both those with which I am involved and those I am not, would go away if people would stop and think through how stupid the anger is. That would take the fun out of being angry, though.