It Wouldn’t Be the Holidays Without Some Stupid Violence

If this woman wants your parking spot, go ahead and give it to her

Just heard about this story, in which “A Missouri teenager is accused of stabbing a man with an ice pick in a dispute over a parking spot”.

Wow.

Ok, I know the holidays can be a stressful time, and mall parking lots can get overcrowded, but come on! Some people have to learn better ways of channeling their anger and frustration.

There are two things I’d like to point out from this story:

1. By “teenager,” they mean 18 years old. Not 13 or 14, but 18. Yes, a person who will react to a parking lot dispute by stabbing someone with an ice pick has the legal right to vote. Truly, the future of our country is in trouble.
2. The ice pick was a “wooden-handled, 5-inch ice pick.” You know, the kind Sharon Stone used to kill people in Basic Instinct. The tool mobsters used to murder people and that doctors of yore used to perform lobotomies.

This begs the question: who keeps a wood-handled five-inch ice pick in their car?!? There are tools people use to scrape ice off of their cars (they are cleverly called, “ice scrapers”) but an ice pick? I’ve never been to Missouri, so I could be wrong. But even if the ice gets caked up on your car, do you really want to go hacking around your windshield with a metal stick?

This story would be hilarious if it weren’t so tragic.

I am pretty sure that if you are smart enough to be reading the Motivational Smart Ass blog, you are smart enough to not stab people with ice picks over parking spots. But if you are like most people, you probably do feel your emotions rising when things go wrong, people do stupid things, or people do stupid things that wrong you. Even if you never resort to stabbing someone, there are still things you can take away from this story:

As In Little Things, So In Big Things

Many people allow themselves to explode over little things because they think it’s no big deal if they get really pissed, yell or get in someone’s face, and then forget about it an hour later. The problem is that every little Ding! in our lives is a chance to build our “success reflex”. How you control and manage your emotions and reactions in daily little things will determine how you respond automatically in situations where you might be tempted to stab someone (or something less violent, but still negative).

Teach Your Children Well

I don’t have kids, but I have friends who do. One thing I have seen them all do is, when the kid starts hitting them or someone else, say, “no hitting! Hitting is bad.” Why does that lesson seem to either not get taught or not get reinforced as the kid grows up? Why is society filled with people who find violence – sometimes potentially fatal violence – to be an acceptable option?

To paraphrase a country song: “Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be ice-pick stabbing psychos.”

Have a wonderful (and safe – for the love of God stay safe and don’t get stabbed!) Holiday!

About

By Avish Parashar. As the world's only Motivational Improviser, Avish uses techniques from the world of improv comedy to engage, entertain, and educate audiences on ideas around change, creativity, and motivation. Connect with Avish on Google+

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