There are those buffoons who believe the primary goal of a depressed person should be to find a way to cheer up, to begin smiling like some brainless twerp and begin counting one’s blessings, giving thanks they have their health and searching for some rainbow that leads to that mythical pot of gold.

Don’t count me among those buffoons. In fact, please hand me a loaded weapon and point me in their direction.

When I get a good depression going, I actually prefer to nurture it, to expound on it, to get downright pissed off. Nothing’s quite as therapeutic as cramming a stick of dynamite up the world’s ass every now and then.

And truth be told, it’s a whole lot easier to find things to go ballistic about than there are things to get all touchy-feely, warm-and-fuzzy over.

Quick – think of something that brings a smile to your face, and I’ll find seven heinous items to trump it.

Whether it’s a bright, sunny day or your baby’s smile or Christmas morning, I’ll remind you of war, people being mindlessly butchered for a pipe full of crack, a hideous disease, credit card fraud, overbearing greed crushing an endangered species, a drunk driver and a priest with his holy hand down an 8-year-old’s pants.

Which is more common, the good or the bad?

If you say the former, you’re either still tied to momma’s apron strings, haven’t read a newspaper in about 50 years or OD’d on “Little House on the Prairie” when you were a kid. And naturally, your favorite athlete is Tim Tebow, your favorite place to visit is church and your favorite actor is Kermit the Frog.

Believe this, the world is far more about pus than it is about pleasure.

Wish that weren’t the case, but I calls it as I sees it, not how it should be.

The world just isn’t fair and ain’t ever likely to be. In fact, in most cases it’s downright cold, vicious and uncaring.

Worse yet, it’s not the physical world that’s to blame. There sure isn’t anything wrong with the trees, the sky, the ocean, the grass or the soil. In fact, many of the truly beautiful sights over the course of a lifetime are the direct result of taking the time to appreciate the aesthetics around us.

No, for the true villain in this vile scenario, look no further than the nearest mirror.

Yesiree, as Pogo once said in a comic strip from many, many moons ago, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

The two-legged mammal has already killed this planet, and if it somehow survives the destruction it has brought down upon the very place it resides, it will destroy the next location it inhabits.

And as always, the cause of death will be greed.

Most people see beauty in a gentle deer feeding in a grassy field on a warm spring day. There are those, however, that see nothing but profit in the selling of venison steaks after taking a 30-ought-six and blowing the bejeezus out of that Hallmark moment.

The world presents natural beauty, only to see it disappear in the most despicable way possible.

And that, boys and girls, is the norm.

So you can look on the sunny side of life, seek out the good in every man, let a smile be your umbrella and hug your child today.

I’ll choose to remember that it’s far more common to hear that if I don’t like my job I can leave, that this job is going to end up costing you more than originally expected, that the rich should not pay their fair share of taxes and that the planet is here for us, we’re not here for the planet.

And I’ll get good and pissed, and stay that way.

Oh, and before I forget, cheer up.