A colleague/friend [thanks, Hub] commented that my previous Blog about anger
might well leave folks the thought that I was saying/implying that anger is
either bad or wrong. To whatever degree his observations are correct, I
apologize.
ANGER is a gift with which we are created! Placing any moral judgment on it is
extremely inappropiate - as it would be to so judge breathing or hunger or any
other natural aspect of our created selves.
ANGER's purpose is very basic - protection. Watch a newborn baby. If hungry or
suffering from wet diaper or being hurt - the baby's anger is automatically
activated. As a newborn this gets commuicated with a lusty howl, a red face, and
extreme action. No one claims that such reaction is "wrong". [Uncomfortable,
perhaps, for the care-giver - but not wrong!]
ANGER, however, that is NOT acted upon - and as I said in the Blog is "nurtured"
- opens the door to becoming a victim.
And VICTIMHOOD is a deadly state of being.
Vicktor Frankl, in his book "From Death Camp to Existentialism", told the story
of a Jew incarcerated in one of the death camps of WW II. As he was being
marched towards the gas house the prisoner said to the guard: "You're not taking
my life. I'm giving it to you!"
This made the guard furious. One of those "No you're not!" / "Yes I am!" type
exchanges took place.
Finally, the guard pulled the prisoner out of line and sent him back to the
camp!
Frankl pointed out the man's refusal to being a victim. He was able to utilize
his anger to claim, even in the face of being killed, that he was a human being
with the ability to decide how he would die.
(Frankl's book, incidentally, might be a good place to begin our dialogues with
out Jewish friends as we seek answers to the conflicts with the Palestinians.
Has the Holocaust become more a source of maintaining "victimhood" rather than a
call to action?)
The changes that need to occur in our nation these next months, regardless of
whom is elected, will provoke many feelings - fear and anger amongst the most
dominate. We in the churches, synagogues and mosques need to remind our people
that "feelings" are not sinful. The issues are always what we do with them. Let
us help them explore ways to use their feelings as "calls to action" rather than
invitations to being victims.
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