Unfueling Anger

How easily are you provoked to anger?

Unjust anger cannot be justified, for anger tips the scale to one's ruin.  Those who are patient stay calm until the right moment, and then cheerfulness comes back to them.  They hold back their words until the right moment; then the lips of many tell of their good sense. - Sirach 1:22-24

I find it is far easier to get angry when wronged than to remain patient and calm.

The wisdom of Sirach tells us to hold back and give anger time to settle, time to ease, withholding a response until the right time.  The example we set when we do that is one of having good sense.

But he is talking about what he calls unjust anger, which we can assume is one of overreaction or possibly unprovoked anger.  Who is to decide what is just and what is unjust when it comes to anger?  What reaction is too much?

I truly think there is a severe lack of patience in the world today.  People seem to grab hold of anger at the slightest provocation, and even when no evil is done directly to them.

Our social media platforms are rife with it, and every post and repost adds fuel to the flames, bringing the level of anger higher and higher.

We get no points for letting an argument lay dormant.  Our failure to respond in kind is treated as a capitulation and we lose.  No one likes to lose.

So the war rages on, and the battles become more and more hate-filled, more personal.

Is this the society we want, one that is polarized and poised at self-destruction?

Perhaps all that is needed to stop the angry words is a phrase or response that disarms and brings the conversation to a halt.  What would that be?  What could we post without losing our self esteem, and yet provoking no response in return?

Maybe, as Sirach suggests, it is a pause, a way of acknowledging the need to be patient and silent, yet, given that we live in a world of instantaneous communication, it is a response nonetheless.

You may argue that there is nothing one could say in the face of anger that would stop the rants, and you may be right.  But what if in response I post something like this:

I need to give that some thought before responding.

More to come...