I'm going to pass on Pain(e) and look to Dickens': "IT WAS (is) THE BEST OF TIMES"---etc.

It is imperative that we seek solace and tranquility in this hurly-burly that is our world today. What to do about it? How to deal with it? The answer is down the street and around the corner. There, among friends, neighbors, and a few welcome strangers, the peace and equanimity you require resides. Listen, Say nothing, Sit quietly. Smile sympathetically even empathetically and nod with grave sincerity at appropriate intervals. Never interject or correct or interrupt as your task is to commiserate. Your expression must convey all of the aforementioned in support of what is being said 'round about ' you. Where are you? You are, of course, in one  of your local coffee shops---the first of at least three you will visit this day. You are about to experience a kind of epiphany.

Slowly, inevitably, the natural volubility of the patrons turns to those experiences that have impacted their respective lives:

Joe recounts how his credit card situation has ruined his credit rating--

Mrs. Collins says that her law suit against Express Scripts is going badly--

Mary confides (we'll call her Mary) confides-sotto voce--that her new meds have caused embarrassing seepage--

Charlie, in the corner, can't wait for his useless son to leave. The kid is a waste of time--

A Mrs. Johnson asks discreetly if anyone has seen her husband--

Mike mentions to his friend that he will not submit to that #*$#@^+#@ colonoscopy---

Judy, the waitress, announces the end of her relationship with 'that bum'---

You hear two golfers talking about how 'Tiger' has ruined the sport---

Did you know Alice's boy flunked out of college--

Larry's son stuck a ring in his nose and wants to go to the prom in a dress---

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There now, don't you feel better? And you think you have problems? Has not your day improved perceptively? Why wallow in a sea of self-pity  when you can hear and see before your very eyes others mired in a morass of varying depths of despair?

And this was only your first stop! Catharsis awaits.

I only get positive stuff at my first stop: The Village Cafe in Osterville. I leave depressed because everybody there seems content! I'll have to find two other coffee shops-----maybe in Yarmouth or Dennis--I'll let you know.