Angry enough to…
Much could be said in connection to the Student demonstrations this week however it will probably be remembered for the events that are depicted in the photo above. In the subsequent reporting I heard one individual succinctly remark regarding the actions of people during the day that “people are angry”…which got me thinking.
Anger is something that all of us know. However we handle it, it can have dramatic effects.
We tend to feel angry when we see that our own or someone else’s rights are being ignored or trampled on…we are left with a sense of it not being right, of injustice, that “it’s not fair!”.
This can happen through being misunderstood, the misuse of authority, the way we are treated at work, a medical diagnosis, redundancy or the announcement of cuts…
…if we are honest, all of us get angry. The question is how do we handle it when we do?
The Bible is pretty helpful in respect to how we should do this. It states, “Go ahead and be angry. You do well to be angry—but don’t use your anger as fuel for revenge. And don’t stay angry”. In other words, it is ok to be angry. Some of us need to read this again: IT IS OK TO FEEL ANGRY… but in our anger we need to be careful that we don’t do harm to ourselves or others.
So what should we do?
Here are five practical steps:
1. Acknowledge: Starting point is to acknowledge that we feel angry, not to deny it.
2. Understand: Important that we don’t just react but that we stop and seek to understand why we feel angry.
3. Express: We need to give ourselves space to express our anger without harming ourselves or others. This can sometimes mean taking ourselves out of a situation. Can often mean spending time writing down and vocalising…sometimes this can be helped by speaking with someone independent and I find it helpful talking to God.
4. Forgive: This is the decision to choose to not hold against a person the wrong they have done. This is often an ongoing decision. It is vital in ensuring we are able to be constructive within our anger. It is also essential to being able to let go of hurt. We don’t want to be eaten up by bitterness…but this is a whole other subject!
5. Take action: Finally having taken the previous steps to ensure we don’t just react, it is still important that we take action. This action should not cause us or others harm. Rather, it should lead to postive, creative change and solutions.
