I have had a lot of chances to think about anger lately. I am no stranger to anger, and truth be told, anger pervades our lives in many forms. It can be manifested in the tantrums that a toddler throws as his/her mind and body are at odds with each other, and the neural connections struggle to make connections without short-circuiting. It can be a child feeling frustrated when his/her sense of fair play is violated when rules are not adhered to, and cheaters and bullies seem to go unscathed. It can be an adolescent feeling left out nor fitting in. It can be anyone dealing with a toxic situation, feeling helpless, losing hope in goodness. It can be an elderly witnessing a world getting away from them. Anger can be loud and it can be silent. It can be channeled in different ways; some lashes out in violent outbursts; some internalized and let it eat away at them until it destroys them; and then there are those who fuel it into a passionate pursuit to right a perceived wrong.
These past couple of months we have been given innumerable reasons to be angry. Shattered dreams, broken promises, denied pursuits, and lack of closures to name a few. There is much injustice, great imbalance in our midst; both at a micro and macro level; and we are properly primed to feel and to feed the hungry fire that calls us to action. Right now, we are angry, and while one can wax poetry about which wolve to feed within us, a wolf remains a wolf, and a wolf represents the primal urges amongst which anger is a huge motivator. Anger fueled by fear; anger in the form of righteous indignation, you have it.
As we age, we will continue to feel anger, what is different is perhaps how well we disguise that anger so that it leads to less bloody outcomes. We try to be civil with it. Take democracy for example. Democracy is really a symbolic form of battle; each side championing a cause or two, and then agreed upon a chosen date and time to duke it out through votes. The votes are counted, to the victor a period to try it their way, while the symbolic head of the vanquished is ceremoniously beheaded through a peaceful transition of power.
Anger, when evolved, can be good. Anger can be a source of motivation; when we are angered on behalf of another; when we use anger to grant us courage, to coordinate so that we face down predators and oppressors alike, that anger is good. The question then becomes how do we use that anger. Do we let it out in control bursts, a slow burn if you will, or do we give into it for one glorious moment of self-immolation? I don't have the answer, but I do hope we question our anger, acknowledge it, and see it in others. The sooner we accept that we are angry and try to understand the cause, the better we are at using it. And no, I don't think I will defuse anger, diffuse it maybe, but no, I think it is quite alright to have anger as long as we don't lie to ourselves about it.
Anger is the fire within us; fire burns, fire warms, fire cooks, fire cleanses, and fire lights the way. How do you want to use your fire?
