What's up with people these days?

In the last few weeks, there have been several incidences which rattled me a bit.  One weekend, while we were shopping at Tesco, the boys decided to sit down at some tables set in front of the food counter.  A couple sat down with us to have their breakfast (nasi lemak and fried chicken).  Joey who is 6 was tapping his fingers on the table way before this couple joined us.  Suddenly the man banged the table and told Joey off to stop tapping in a loud voice.  He must be off his mind to shout at a 6-year old kid who is just tapping his fingers on the table.  We apologized to him and told Joey to apologize to a man who obviously has no understanding of kids nor politeness to just ask the boy to stop doing it in a polite manner.

People seem so stressed these days that there is very low tolerance for anything and common courtesy is out the door.  Do they know that they are stressed?  Do they know that they emit such negative energy?  Why do they even go out when they are so stressed?  Why don't they stay home and rest?

Last weekend, when I was with my sons at their Scout night, I was playfully throwing water balloons, not hitting anyone, just for fun.  The boys and their friends enjoyed the fun.  Then a balloon was thrown short but missed hitting anyone.  A parent was upset with the "ordeal" and complained to a teacher.  I went over to them to apologize for the fun we were having, and they retorted that it was not fun, that someone would have "gotten wet".

I walked off seething because adults have lost the sense of humour, that kids cannot have fun these days, that someone would have gotten wet.  The fact is no one got wet, more important it was not going to hurt anyone! It was a water balloon, for crying out loud.

What more, these days, we see impatient parents rushing to pick up kids at school, driving in a mad rush, talking on the mobile phone while driving, always angry at people who seem to "obstruct" traffic.  People are so angry these days.  It is sad...