Anger - A Power to Reckon

 

            Yesterday, while I was travelling by bus, I saw a barking dog following a rag picker. He was trying to chase it with a stick, but to no avail. The dog barked and barked and the man waved his stick at it. Then the man got so angry, that he threw his stick at the dog so hard that I, seeing the expression on the man’s face and the muscle strength of his hands which was visible, made me flinch involuntarily.

            At that moment, there were people around, as it was a bus stop and I could see only a part of the bus stop. So there was a mother and son, who was standing there. They didn’t even know that a scene was going on behind them. I felt I was watching a black and white movie, a movie of contrasts. One side anger and the other side peace.

            So what makes anger? Why do we get angry? To be frank, I’m not an expert in talking about this, but one thing I know, even I too had a phase when I used to get angry, very fast. For man, there are numerous emotions for different occasions, and now-a-days anger is the reigning emotion, in the whole wide world. Due to anger, people kill each other. Its so extreme an emotion that it is high time we analyzed the facts that activates the switch of anger.

            Anger is an emotion which is generated when we are faced with what we hate to see (like harassing the weak by the strong), feel (like the unfairness of the circumstances) or hear (Like when someone says No when we really expected a Yes badly). We feel its natural, but actually, it is not natural. It is an anomalous emotion, which is an acid, that burns our whole soul, then it goes on to burn the mind, body and ultimately the society.

            In life, the anger starts when the child gives his first cry after birth, the moment when he is woken up from the cocoon of his mother’s womb. We would say, its an inevitable gesture to awaken the child. Its true, but this is the first gesture in a saga of actions. When baby, they show the anger by crying, then they start throwing things and shouting at others, then that passes towards his adolescence, youth and it floods to the full grown person. But when old age sets in, most of the anger gets evaporated. Then they become the famous Mona Lisa for every problem. They face life with the famous smile, the oldies can face any manner and no retribution of any sort towards the angry person.

So now we know, that the young has something more and extra which the old hasn’t and they are more happy and at peace with themselves without it. The time of life to enjoy is when we are young and when we are full grown, but the life which we have has been immersed in is so full of anger, either towards the parents, siblings, teachers, friends, neighbours, society and the whole world that there is no vision above that. Then in return we are left with – a framework of a human being with no personality. The lustre of life is gone. The brightness in the eyes has dulled. The ambition to live is gone leaving behind just a nuclear bomb, ready to detonate with anybody.

            In my feeling, there are many root causes for anger but the biggest cause is our ego. According to the American Heritage dictionary, Ego is the pride in oneself; self-esteem. In psychoanalysis, ego is the division of the psyche that is conscious, most immediately controls thought and behaviour, and is most in touch with external reality.

When we have an ego, we are prone to get angry fast. But for the old, they have had their share of battering to their ego that they left it on the way as the years passed by. So naturally, they have no reason to get angry.

            I hope you understood the name of the machine, which makes us angry – Our Ego. To be frank, can I pass a news? For me too, Its breaking news. Lucky are the people who knew this earlier. If someone had told me, before, my life would have been a lot easier. But who has the patience to hear the lecture? Since we have a fight to win, don’t we?

                        So now we know that we get angry, when our self esteem is knocked or nicked, our ego naturally responds. It comes out as anger. But in the long run when we become aware of this excessive entity in our system, the only thing we can do is don’t allow it to come it to the fore, channelize it to some creative area. I have heard a story of a person who became a famous dancer. Her both parents were dancers and she had been studying dance from childhood. But she didn’t like it an iota. But her parents forced her to do it. So she started dancing to express her anger and later she was so frustrated that she started dancing whenever she got angry and she put her whole mind in the act that, all those who saw her dance were awed. So one day, somebody recorded her dance secretly, and showed her. Seeing her expressions, the perfection in her gestures and the co-ordination in movements, this was her own making, that the dancer herself was awed. Then she knew, that the dance was her calling, because it was in her blood. Then she channelized all her energy into this art form that she became famous. So anger can be utilised for the good.

Man is capable of conquering the unconquerable and utilising it for his use. We all know that we utilise the nuclear material to electrify cities and countries, the waves of seas and oceans , winds of all directions, sunlight, etc. are being utilised for the best of mankind. These things are all nature’s fury but we have harnessed it. If left unattended they can really harm human race and a waste too. That is what anger does to  our lives too. It can harm not only ours but also other’s lives too. The consequences of anger are far reaching. The words used, is far worse than actions. They are unforgettable.  So don’t be angry. Channelize your anger to areas which you fear to tread. That would be the thrill of living.

OK, come on guys, why don’t we plan an expedition to the SUN?

Take care and be happy.

Meena