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What Do We Do With All The Anger?
by Ron Quinlan The reaction to the Casey Anthony verdict is very disturbing. There seems to be a tidal wave of anger sweeping this nation. We appear to be a people full of anger. Is this true? Is this the kind of people we've become? Is this the kind of people we want to be? What are the causes of all this anger? I doubt that all of this anger is just related to Casey Anthony. I suspect the scary reality is that all this anger is only symptomatic of a deeper underlying rage. The reality is that we feed on anger hour after hour as we watch the various news outlets. Our politicians seem to prefer the negative approach, provoking anger rather than attempting to appeal to our better natures. We live in a world built on negativity and anger. We have to evaluate the consequences of all this anger. Surely, we are affected negatively. Anger is a poison that impacts on our health, relationships and spirit. How can our health not be affected if we have all this anger built up in ourselves? Buried anger contributes to stress, high blood pressure and cardiac disease among other things. It takes a toll on our bodies. How can we believe that this anger will not spill out into our relationships? How often have we overreacted to little annoyances? How often do we blow up over nothing? How often do we take things the wrong way? How difficult do we find it to forgive? How difficult is it to let go of grudges? Is this good for our spirit? Can we become the people God created us to be if we are filled with anger? Can we be the loving people we are supposed to be? How can we love God and others if we are filled with anger? We have to take a good look at ourselves. We need to examine our lives to see what revs up our anger and change our lives We can't keep going the way we've been going. Too many people are being hurt including ourselves. God created us to be better than we are right now. We will never be happy if we hold onto the anger or continue to feed on negativity and anger. We have to do something about this anger that is destroying us? We have to change so that the anger no longer controls us? As Christians we are called to be better than this. We are called to be different from the rest of society. On our own we are doomed to failure but God has promised to help us. If we ask He will provide the graces we need to conquer our anger. He wants us to come to Him and give Him our anger. We have to let go of it and allow Him to heal us. Perhaps the biggest thing we should do is turn off the TV and spend time in silence. Stop feeding on all the anger and take the time in silence to either pray or do some spiritual reading thus allowing God to defuse us and fill us with His peace. We need to open ourselves to the power of God to heal us. I am a former Catholic School teacher, now working as a caregiver in South Carolina. I have written pieces for Catholic Exchange and Catholic Lane including God's Valentine and A Faith Worth Dying For. You may read more of my work on ronquinlan.wordpress.com Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |