When Someone Drives You Crazy . . .

Start behaving well, and you will feel better. This is what Jesus would want, and He is there in the rug store. Maybe he was embarrassed to tears, like when your kid has a tantrum in public, which pretty much captures the scene. I stared off at the log-pile of rugs. I was trembling, and you could have opened walnuts with my self-righteousness. But Jesus doesn't hold this against a person. His message is that we're all sort of nuts and suspicious and petty and full of crazy hungers, and it all feels awful a lot of the time, but even so -- one's behavior needs to be decent. So I would try.

Although Annie Lamott was dealing with "The Carpet Guy," her attempts to deal with her own righteous anger is a parable for anyone moved to wrath, especially during the stressful holiday season when it's so easy to be moved to wrath. Sometimes, she says, one has " a moral and spiritual obligation to clean up one's side of the street," regardless of who is right and who is wrong.

You can read her entire essay at Salon.com. (Temporary free access allowed to web site in return for watching an online ad).