Perception: How to change the negative to positive?

You see it everyday. It is inevitable. It is close to a cliche, but everything could be.

My roommates, generally with the exception of one, wake up too busy to say good morning to each other unless spoken to first. You see the lack of contentment from the moment we awake from deep sleep.

On the commute to work, school, etc. Angry drivers (and must admit to being a sometimes impatient driver myself). People not letting others in, no friendly waves, tailgaiting someone because they're only driving 10mph over the limit. People on cell phones, lighting a smoke, and leaning over seaching for a CD. Rarely do you glance over and see a happy face - and god forbid if eye contact is made that you should acknowledge one another with a smile - instead it's a quick glance back to the road or dashboard.

You hear it during your day. Complaints, meaningless conversation about the weather, dissatisfaction with most things in general, we gossip about the person next to us, in front of us, behind us. Repeat commute home. Throw unhealthy food into our stomach because we think there's no time to prepare anything healthy. Then spend a few hours in front of a box that showings strangers marrying for money, eating bugs and slime for money, meanwhile intermittently being bombarded with advertisements for things we don't need.

Time for bed...stand and repeat.

How is that the norm?

Everything begins with choice, and a person is generally smart - so why is it diffuclt to find someone walking down a sidewalk happy and smiling? Why can't we find people who use "please's and thank you's" more often?

What's the matter? Are we just too immature as a species?