My wife is mad at you! She calls you names unbecoming of the mild-manner elementary school teacher who politely and professionally teaches 32 beautiful, innocent children every day. My wife changes persona when she leaves her school and enters a grocery store parking lot preparing to purchase our night's dinner.

First she scouts the parking lot searching for a spot away from cars whose owners will potentially open their door into her car denting the metal and scratching the paint. Finding a parking spot away from potential body shop work, she scans the lot for shopping cart infractions.

"Look, that lady just left her cart in the middle of the lot. She doesn't care about anybody. How lazy? Stop the car. I'm going to get her cart and drive it back into the store. I am so mad right now! I can't believe how uncaring people are," my wife states emphatically as I slow the car while my wife jumps out and offers the perpetrator a nasty glare. She collects three carts from uncaring shoppers, points the carts toward the store and with the determination of a fighter, puts her head down and marches the carts into the store.

"Why can't people just care about each other's stuff?" my wife asks as we enter the store. I quietly offer, "I don't know," disappointed at the stress this situation causes my wife and me.

Thinking about this almost daily conversation with my wife I walk into my garage to examine my car. Looking over the car's body; I discover 13 dents and dings from careless car doors and uncaring shoppers leaving their shopping cart unattended - frustrating.

Metacognating while hypnotically mowing my grass my mind begins to examine the world of simple, uncaring tasks. I mentally list annoyances that make my life more difficult or frustrate me unnecessarily. My mind offers the following list:

• People who run red lights or do not stop at stop signs. Running a red light or not stopping at a stop light is akin to saying, "I am more important than you and you need to stop your life for me regardless of life's rules."

• People who do not say please or thank you. These three words are simple and easy to say yet, when withheld disrespect the giver.

• Cell phone use while driving. If you can't operate your turn indicator, make a legal turn into your own lane or stay in your own lane, you need to put down the phone. Driving while texting or talking on the phone while driving is rude and unsafe.

• Smile at people you pass on the street. This is common in small towns across America and uncommon in medium to large cities. A smile often makes a person's day and it costs nothing.

• I get frustrated when people struggle to empathize with another's difficult plight. Disregarding another because they struggle financially, have a disability or are less fortunate is sad. Looking at life through another's eyes is a trait of character that is rare in our capitalistic, self-absorbed society. Pity is different from empathy. Pity is feeling sorry for another and is seldom useful while empathy truly understands another's struggle. It takes strong character to be empathetic.

So, if you're the person who pushes your shopping cart into the parking lot, carefully places your groceries in your trunk then carelessly leave your shopping cart on a downward slope to inevitably run into my car door, you deserve the wrath my wife will lay down on you. If you place your shopping cart in the cart carrel or push it back into the store, THANK YOU!

If you wish to comment or offer suggestions, please email me at [email protected].