But I’m beginning to resent the hours I spend combining these crazy letters and numbers into a password – using old nicknames, lucky numbers, names of my favorite pets, symbols from my past, and then desperately searching for them so I can log into my smart phone, computer and/or bank account.

Fact is, I’ve reached the point where I have so many passwords for so many different accounts, that I’m beginning to hate them. Keeping track of which passwords I need for which digital file, where to find them and when to change them is taking up precious chunks of my life — minutes, hours, days. Or so it seems.

What kind of a world have we created that we need to be protected from thieves, predators and scammers waiting in the wings to pilfer our identities, take advantage of our credit cards, steal information about our personal and professional lives so they can impersonate and rob us?

How sad, how wasteful that we live with this degree of malevolence and mistrust, that we have to arm, protect and insulate ourselves.

Ahh, if only there were a way to turn back time.

I’m old enough to remember when people didn’t have to lock their doors, fear computer hackers or hire identity theft companies. How about a password for reprograming the minds and hearts of thieves whose indifference to the pain and well-being of others fuels the password craze? Perhaps instilling a higher octane of honesty, empathy, decency and integrity would make the world a better, safer place.

I’d love to hear from you. Please share some of the ways you deal with “password angst” and/or diffuse “password rage.” No password required.

And thank you, Apple, for allowing me to now use my thumb print. My iPhone doesn’t have the face-recognition thing.