Don't Be a Grump! pleazzze...

James Estrin/The New York Times

The cars whizzing past him in the damp heat probably had air-conditioners, but Ajdin Hasan Papa had the median of Pelham Parkway in the Bronx to himself Monday.

Ok, I know it's hot and talking about the weather accounts for 75% of office chatter and griping, but don't be a grump! I confess that 72 degrees is warm enough for me - but if you're driving down the road, all grumpy because it feels like 110 degrees here in North Carolina, please don't flip me off - I was just turning left with my turn signals on...

If you've a recipient of a flipper (flippee) disarm that grumpiness and refashion that negative energy into something positive. Suggestions? I would head straight to the local WalMart, Costco or Sam's and buy a case of water, ice and a cooler. So if one should find themselves prone to be the flipper, offer them a bottle of water (with no strings attached). This is a modern day application of Proverbs 25: with emphasis added by me -

If your enemy (flipper) is hungry, give him food to eat;
if he is thirsty (flippy), give him water to drink.

In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head,
and the LORD will reward you.

(This is the New International Version (NIV) winter version - let's try the summer version from The Message)

If you see your enemy hungry, go buy him lunch;
if he's thirsty (grumpy and flippy), bring him a drink.

Your generosity will surprise him with goodness,
and GOD will look after you.

My second suggestion? Skip a couple of Chinese buffets (as you shouldn't eat heavy during the heat anyway) and take the money and pick up a couple of boxfans. Offer them to an elderly person - or go to an inner city apartment and bless someone - do it for them, not for yourself - radical generosity without keeping score means much more and I think touches the very heart of God.

Now if I catch someone with a dog or kid locked up in their car in the heat because of one's selfcenterness, stupidity, comfort and convenience, I will go ballistic on you - turn the firehose on me -

From the NY Times: A common theory holds that hot weather is more tolerable than cold. This fails to account for something meteorologists never refer to.

Call it the Grumpy Factor, a phenomenon tied to humidity. In a nursery-rhyme-science sort of a way, the Grumpy Factor explains how unpleasantness can shuffle across the city, lighting tempers and darkening moods.

When a Dog Day Afternoon Starts Before Dawn - New York Times