Don’t Operate Heavy Machinery While Hangry

By Tim Clark — HEAD ABOVE WATER

“How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it.” Marcus Aurelius

There are commercials today where a person is acting completely out of character. It begins with depictions of doddering, abrasive or foolish behavior manifesting itself in an amusing and unexpected way. Then a friend, a true friend will step in and offer a candy bar because “you’re not yourself when you’re hungry.” It is true, and they’ve even coined a phrase to account for the drop of simple sugars in your blood stream between meals. Hangry, an adorable fusion of hungry and angry.

We used to call it mad or, depending on the mood, pissed off. Same emotion, different package.

When I was younger I worked with an older guy, Kenny. He had a wild head of long, wavy, brown hair, shot through with streaks of gray. On the other end of his face was a wild beard that looked to have never seen a comb. In between the hair and the beard were the eyes, fevered, frantic, glowing. He had a reputation for extreme, unpredictable behavior. And it was widely rumored he had an appetite for debauchery. Since I was young, green and almost completely without a personality of my own I found him fascinating. He was my first real look at humanity.