A couple of weeks ago, I arrived at a point where I decided I needed to back down the spleen. I was imagining the death of dozens of people at a time, sometimes before breakfast.

So i invoked what I now call the Rule of Five. After I have wished death on, or begun to plot the death of, five people, I quit for the day. I turn off talk radio and stop having conversations that involve politics.

Sometimes, still, that happens before I get out of bed, watching the TV news.

It makes it less likely that I will start stockpiling rope. Try it, it helps. My imaginary body count was often getting into the 60’s before I got to work.