You're drifting in a rowboat on a quiet pond. Another boat bumps against your own and jolts you out of your self-forgetfulness.
You stand up in a rage, and start berating the negligent rower in the other boat. Then you notice that it's empty. There's no one to blame (save circumstance or the current or the boat itself), so there's no one to be angry with. You sit down again and realize that, if there's no target for your tirade (except yourself), there might as well be no tirade.
You wonder, perhaps, why exactly the same event can trigger such different responses in you if there's a human in the boat or none at all. The bump on your vessel and the shock and the possible injuries -- they're all the same. But your response is as different as a stormy day is from a mild one.
