Get angry

What do you do with the mad you feel (when you feel so mad you can bite?)

                                         Fred Rogers (Song title)

Anger is good and very necessary to protect the appropriate boundaries of self and others. I would much sooner live with a person who is free to get fully angry, and also free to move beyond that same anger, than with a negative person who is hard-wired with resentments and preexisting judgements. Their anger is so well hidden and denied—even from themselves—that it never comes up for the fresh air of love, conversation, and needed forgiveness

                                         Richard Rohr

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what do we do with anger?

more specifically, I guess, what do I do with my anger

for there is no question that there are things which anger me

what do I do with that simmering cauldron of crap

roiling around in my soul

raising my blood pressure

causing me to walk a “second mile” on my walks

(to calm down)

making me judgmental

and harsh

I’ve noticed an interesting thing about my anger

I usually put a face to it

It usually focuses on a person

On Mr. Trump (often)

On foolish people with banners and flags, spreading a virus during a pandemic

On the greedy wealthy, who never have enough

But the reality is, I am angry at a behavior

the real issue is

the lie

the endangerment of others

the oppression of the poor

the suppression of justice

I am angry at the product of those behaviors

People being mislead

Poverty

Inequity

Hungry

Homelessness

Injustice

And I should be!!!

But this reminds me that the first thing I have to do with my anger

Is separate the behavior from the person

This is not easy

Because some people seem to be evil incarnate

The behavior seems to be innate, and woven into the fabric of their being

But still, I think this was part of the genius of Jesus

he could always separate the person from the behavior

and he could separate the person from all those other adjectives we use

to define others

including black

brown

female

male

gay

lesbian

cis

alcoholic

addicted

mentally ill

Jesus saw people

he saw through all the crap

to the heart

and although, I think at times he wept

at what he saw

I think he also saw that vague hint of sacred

that by design

cannot be totally eradicated, in anyone

I find I cannot, sometimes, find that spark

but I think I am called to try, called to try and see

the “created to be” person, hidden in

that person in whom the divine image is so blurred

I also think I am called to try and translate my anger into

Something other than anger

It is OK to be angry

Something are “anger worthy”

But I can’t hold the anger

It will eat me up

I can’t nurture it in my soul

For it will crowd out the Sacred

But I can express it in ways that are

Hopefully

transformational

I can translate my anger over the greed of the 1%

Into generosity, and give to worthy causes

I can translate my anger over those protesting in the streets

those manipulated (frankly) by others and their own fear,

into encouragement (not shaming) of others,

helping them to stay safe

I can translate my concern over the agenda of this President

into acts of compassion and kindness

and I can find candidates whose priorities are Godly,

and vote

What I can’t do

is allow my anger

to pull me into the kind of behaviors

that make me angry

This day,

Get angry

Feel it

Own it

And then express it

Not as pure anger

But as transformed anger

As activism

As love