Ken,

You sound like you're having a lot of stress and some of it is coming out in an almost comical set of unrealistic fears.

Rioting over the Olympics Bid? What?

In reality, it sounds like what you're fearing is a loss of control over things you could never control in the first place.

Job? Nobody's job is "safe" and nobody can force anyone to buy a car.

Teens? They are becoming adults. I'm sure you drove your parents crazy too.

Me First & Screw You? That's the core of the American Dream, isn't it? Robin Hood is a folklore hero from long long ago, remember?

Traffic Jams? Yes, they suck. But you know that they must fix the roads and there's never a good time to do it. Ever.

As for the rest - again, it's a matter of obsession over a perceived lack of control and - more importantly - thinking that a lack of control is a bad thing.

It's not always bad to just let things happen. In fact, it's liberating. I used to RAGE at traffic jams. Absolutely RAGE. Same goes for flight delays. And you know what? You can't control those things, and to rage about them is pointless. You didn't cause it, you can't fix it, you can't change it. So why worry? And to the political matters - well, that's also only worth some of your mental energy, not all of it, because nothing - absolutely nothing - in the political life-cycle of the world is permanent. There are people and policies I like, there are people and policies I dislike - and there's a ballot box I go to at every single election and sometimes the people and policies I want are voted in and sometimes they are not. And I take the bad with the good and try to keep positive about things.

Hold your freakin' head up and stop griping

You have so much more to be thankful for than billions and billions of other people. We all do. We have the time and ability to type to one another here, we are able to do things that most of the people in the world can't and we have opportunities here - even in this terrible recession - that just don't exist elsewhere.

Chin up.