Anger

I remember studying in my college psychology class something called Kubler-Ross' 5 stages of Death and Dying. Rather than type up a summary I think I will let Homer Simpson explain.



 
I don't know if this pattern is true for everybody facing a life threatening situation because I don't feel like I have experienced all the stages. I seem to be stuck on anger. However, this anger only seems to peek its ugly head up every once and a while. The perfect example occurred on our recent family vacation. We were driving through western New York and it was time for lunch. We have adopted a family vacation dining policy that states we will attempt to avoid dining at the common national chains of restaurants and eat at predominately local establishments. Sticking to this policy we stumbled across a quaint little restaurant called the Black Bear. Now my post-noma diet is pretty narrow and it can be a challenge to stick to, especially when eating out. I was fine when I walked into the Black Bear, but remember getting angrier and angrier the longer we sat there. It started with the menu. From the literature that I have been reading, the western diet may have a large part to play in the rise of cancer in the U.S. Let's face it, nobody really thinks that McDonald's is good for you, do they? So I am looking at this menu in the Black Bear and there is absolutely nothing on it that I should eat. However, we are on vacation and I'm going to cut myself some slack. So I order a burger and some fries, but avoid ordering a Coke.
 
The anger starts to swell as I look around the room. I see various families enjoying their dining experience. They haven't done anything to me, but still I start to get angry at them. The majority of them are not the image of health, yet here they are ordering whatever they want from the menu, foods that I have been told to avoid. Granted I am no triathelete, but I consider myself to be in pretty good shape. I'm not a smoker. I'm not a diabetic. I'm not overweight. Why do I have cancer and these people don't? It doesn't seem fair. Why do these people get to eat whatever they want?
 
I'm really angry by the time our food comes. I feel that with every bite of that burger I have shaved a month off my life. Yet these people will dine on their genetically-modified everything and leave the restaurant not having to worry about questions like "will I live to see my kids graduate high school?"
 
It isn't fair and that makes me very angry. Why did I have to get cancer?