The Etiquette of Losing Our Minds

'Emblem of Folly' by unknown artist, 18th century

---

TW: This piece uses strong profanity and contains adult themes. Please read sensibly.

The truth is, I don’t think people are coping anymore; we’re just pretending we are.

This morning, I watched a man trying to film the sunrise on his phone.

It really was beautiful.

He just happened to be driving at the time.

I watched him meander down the hill, both hands off the wheel and...honestly? I wanted to get out of my car and smash that phone into his face until it looked like breadcrumbs.

The rage came not only from the outrageousness of what he was doing, but from knowing that if I filmed him doing it - to report him - then I would be prosecuted for using my phone behind the wheel.

I’ve been questioning my sanity a lot lately.

Is it me, or is everyone else choosing not to see that the world is collapsing?

We carry on - work, gym, drinks, small talk - as if the entire fabric of the world isn’t unravelling in plain sight.

And I know why: because we all feel so utterly helpless.

Powerless.

That’s what they want us to think.

Want us to feel.

They want us tired, overworked, hungry, and afraid.

People like that don’t have the energy to say “Stop” anymore.

They’re too exhausted from screaming into an ether that drowns them out with lies and misdirection.

We’ve learned that No only means No when it’s validated by the perpetrator.

Over the years, a particular kind of rage begins to settle in you: petty, feral, and fierce.

It’s the voice that wants to choke the person in front of you in the queue with a bag of Maltesers because they’re taking too long. The same rage that wanted to smash Mr. Soft-Top’s phone into breadcrumbs. It sounds ridiculous until you realise the Maltesers and Mr Soft-Top aren’t the problem.

They’re just the final straw in a world that’s made us swallow too much.

Maybe you’d agree that I am mad.

That I need to see a professional.

That I have an unhealthy amount of anger in me.

But I think I have exactly the right amount of anger.

It’s the same amount of anger we’re all carrying and pretending isn’t there as we shove another hash brown into the Air Fryer.

We are a society gaslighting itself into numbness because no one can take it anymore.

I am so tired of being resilient.

We all are.

If this is madness, then maybe madness is the only sane response to a world that’s burning politely.