The other day I was in the Burger King parking lot when one car apparently cut in front of another car in the drive-thru line.

The driver who lost his place started honking angrily, then rolled down his window and began shouting and swearing at the guy who cut in front of him. He argued and screamed and things just kept escalating until he stepped out of his car, stormed over to the other car, and… I don’t really know what happened at that point, since the car was blocking my view, but the other driver backed up in a hurry and allowed The Angry One to pass to his rightful place in line. While this was going on, you could hear in The Angry One’s car a small, frightened voice sobbing, “Dad! Dad, please, don’t!”

What amazes me is that over the centuries, society has found it appropriate and acceptable to sterilize people who are “different”– those who are mentally impaired, of a different race or ethnic background, you name it– but not once has anyone thought to sterilize those who have serious anger and abuse issues. Those who are born from mentally-impaired parents may turn out to be perfectly normal, and in fact those who are mentally impaired can often take care of their young. (Not all cases, of course, but you get my meaning.) And yet those who are born in angry, abusive homes almost always become angry and abusive themselves. There are always exceptions, but overwhelmingly the abused become the abusers.

The best way to approach anger management? How about sterilizing those who are abusive?

Okay, granted, it’s not exactly constitutional. It steps on the rights of others and opens up issues of determining who is and who isn’t fit to be a parent, which could easily go in a very unpleasant direction. Still, it’s no more unconstitutional than those laws and ideas of the past, and it surely is saving at least a few lives.

(Note: I AM NOT ACTUALLY CONDONING FORCED STERILIZATION OF ANY GROUP OF PEOPLE! I’m merely trying to make a point. Not enough is done today about angry and abusive situations, and there is no easy solution overall.)