Here's a quiz:  Pretend the following is an FML posting.
 
"Hi, I am going on a mountaineering expedition to Alaska this winter, and
I want to bring my darling Bandit with me.  I haven't ever tried ice
climbing before, but Bandit is pretty good about staying on my shoulder.
Does anyone know whether I'll have trouble taking Bandit on the plane?"
 
Which response below do you SEND (not think)?
a) "You total moron! You are not fit to even own a ferret!  How could you
possibly endanger a precious life like that?  You are selfish and stupid!""
 
b) "I can see that you're really attached to Bandit, but I stongly suggest
that you leave him at home.  You might not have thought about it, but some
of the really serious problems you could encounter are....."
 
I'll discuss the answers in a moment.
 
There are certain behaviors on the FML, and everywhere else, that say, "I
have a problem!"  Not a huge problem, not chronic alcoholism or anything
like that, but a problem.  Thebehavior is criticism.  Judging other people
harshly is almost always a sign of a mood disorder.  A person who gets mad
easily at small things, is insulted easily, and replays "what I should have
said to that.  sob" in his mind has a mood disorder.  This used to be
called depression.  That was an inadequate term, because depressed sounds
as if one lay about feeling blue.  It didn't cover the case of the person
who always feels angry, and hurt, and often doesn't much enjoy every day
life.  That situation is a mood disorder.  On the outside, the person is
harsh, judgemental, easily hurt, easily insulted, and prone to talk about
negative things.  On the inside, the person is hurting, hollow-feeling, and
deeply angry.  Are you there?  If you feel this way more than every once in
a while, you may very well have a mood disorder.  But the wonderful news is
that you can fix it--you don't have to always feel angry and without losing
any other aspect of yourself.  Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors can
make the anger vanish and still leave the real you there, not dumbed down
or tranqed out, or in any other way diminished.  If you think this could be
you, go to your doctor and talk about it.
 
If you answered a) on the quiz, then reread the preceding paragraph and
really think about yourself.
 
Angry people are hard for other people to be around.  I suggest that angry
people are also hard for ferrets to be around.  Ferrets don't often seem
especially attuned to their owner's emotions in the way dogs are, but on
the other hand, they are very easily stressed out.  For their sake, if not
for anything else, I hope that folks who realize they might have a mood
disorder will get it checked out.
 
Jacqueline
[Posted in FML issue 2819]