I need to vent

Sometimes I get really weary of people who act as if the whole world revolves around them. I want to shake them and say, “Look around! You are not the center of the universe! There are others here!” And they do act like they think they are the center of the universe, being totally self-centered types who would make observations like these if they were clever enough:

I am firm, you are stubborn, he is a pig-headed fool.
I am sparkling and witty; you are talking a lot; he is jabbering on.
I daydream; you are an escapist; he is totally delusional.

You know the type. They have a hangnail; it is a tragedy. Twenty-two thousand people die in a cyclone in Myanmar; it is mildly interesting but no concern of theirs.

Being an old codger, I see this tendency both in Baby Boomers who indulge themselves with expensive toys and in children who get their way all the time because their parents let them, because they think their little darlings are perfect. Case in point: there is a reality show called Jon and Kate Plus Eight on Monday nights on the TLC channel in which two otherwise seemingly normal people are raising a set of twins and a set of sextuplets. The twins are Cara and Maddie, who just turned seven. The sextuplets are Hannah, Leah, Alexis, Collin, Aiden, and the other one whose name escapes me just now, who are three. The house is all chaos, all the time, bedlam everywhere, in every conceivable form. Maybe it's the fault of the people doing the editing of the footage, but the screaming of the children is almost non-stop. When they're not screaming, the older ones are being totally obnoxious and the younger ones are hitting each other, which leads to more screaming, and it's all to the smiles and only occasional consternation of their parents.

I know it's difficult to raise children. We raised three. It must be extremely difficult to raise eight, especially when six of them are three years old. But why would TLC film it and turn it into an endless series? TLC has another reality show called Little People, Big World about a family of six in which both parents and one of their 17-year-old twins are dwarfs. All of the people are normal enough, but the house is a mess. I don't even want to get started about that.

More to the point, why do I even watch these programs? At least on Antiques Roadshow there is no screaming.

I think I have just identified who is the pig-headed fool around here. Enough of this jabbering on, before you think I'm totally delusional.