Anger

Don’t Hold Onto It

You know, as I watch the news or read articles about life in general I find that many of us are angry with the other. It can be about politics, religion, unfriendliness, or between spouses. I look at anger as I would a tornado. It comes up strong then peters out when the weather changes. At least, it should peter out. anger is a natural reaction to what we don’t like or even a slight directed at us. It is natural to be angry but destructive to hold it in and allow it to fester. Then it becomes a destructive force that works first on the person who is angry and next, or perhaps never, on the person one is angry with. I can think of no better adjective for anger than destruction. It causes war, murder, mental illness and is really good at tearing people apart in emotional ways.

I am writing this because I understand anger from the perspective of one who came home from two combat tours in Vietnam, saw the protestors denigrating our country and the anger in me swelled without being quelled for over a decade. It led me on paths that were destructive but because I had seen death and destruction I held my anger in so that it worked on me in ways that were so destructive it almost killed me.

No sense in going into my sob story so suffice it to say that the bible led me back onto the path I had followed for years but really lost it once home. No parades for us, only derision. Looking back, I should have considered the source rather than be angry at everyone. In my life the only path that works for me is the bible. The bible provides a rigid structure with which to live properly. Once understood it is much easier than being bounced from fad to fad, movement to movement, or political party to political party.

It is an interesting dichotomy isn’t it: the bible versus the world we live in. Only one directs a life using common sense with the proper goal in mind. The other is a circus of fools. A path with a thousand forks. An endless sea we are forced to row across. Which is which? The answer is within you.

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