North American Brats

It is pretty well known that the rich and/or very comfortable are quicker to anger than those less "fortunate". Those who have struggled or worked hard for what they have tend to be more even keeled because they don't expect the world to cater to their needs. They simply want to be able to support themselves and their families and be happy as often as possible. They don't have the need for the kind of money that gives power and stirs up the talk of jealous flatterers. They don't expect handouts from anyone else when they are perfectly capable of helping themselves. They keep their dignity intact whenever possible. Though they may struggle at times and people do help them out, they are thankful for the help and don't feel entitled to it.

What rich is for one person can mean a totally different thing to another, but the higher the pay scale the higher the agitation over the petty seems to be also. Those who aren't financially rich, but lead very comfortable lives collecting some kind of income that keeps them from having to work, very often obese, and dependent on others for their needs can also become agitated and angry when their comforts aren't to their liking. Sometimes they are worse than the rich because (unless it's old money), the rich usually do some type of work that, on occasion, may give them a sense of the real world.

At one very expensive restaurant (that I go to about once a year) I overheard some women complaining about the color of the napkins. They asked the waiter what had happened to the black napkins that used to come with their silverware. They were not happy with the white and this whining continued until the waiter was able to round up some black napkins. If this country goes through some type of crash like we saw in 1929, there will be a biblical gnashing of teeth people will have so much to be angry about. Imagine complaining about your Netflix selections being poor and then there is no electricity for 3 months. Imagine if we couldn't afford to eat out 3 or 4 times a week or if we had no cell phone service. People would literally lose their minds.

It seems that the more comfortable we get, the angrier we get when something threatens that comfort. There is an agitation that is triggered which might not be there if we hadn't become spoiled. A lot of this bratty behavior is actually because we think we deserve these things (like a spoiled child) while we ignore all of the small blessings we receive daily.

"Surely you have seen how anger increases with every increase in fortune? It shows up especially in the rich, in the noble, in high officials - anything irresponsible or foolish in their minds has a favorable breeze to raise it aloft. Prosperity fosters bad temper..." - Seneca

Instead of being surprised and subsequently upset when things aren't going the way we want them to; we should be thankful for the things that did go well and accept the fact that being upset over that which we cannot control is useless. If your job is to work the desk at an airport, you should know that every now and then you're going to have to deal with upset customers. To be aghast and so angry that you're in tears every time you have one of these customers would be ridiculous because it is expected. So, weird as it is to say, being the eternal optimist may backfire on you if you expect everything to always go your way. That's not how the world works. It's full of people that want things their way, and normally someone has to give in order for someone else to receive. If you're not expecting bad days and moments to come your way, then when they do, your inner brat will surface and make it even worse.