ANGER: BEAT IT, DON’T EAT IT

by Dr. Cecil Clements (6th March 2012)

Every time I come into Thane, which for you non-Mumbaiites is a suburb of Mumbai, I pass a hospital which is shut down. It used to be a flourishing hospital owned by the Singhanias. But at one point, there was some politico who died there and riots took place and his people went and thrashed the hospital. The Singhanias then shut it down. Now it stands as a relic or a reminder of what anger and its destructive qualities can do. Because of the anger of some people, so many people got affected.

So this morning, I want to share some thoughts on anger with you.

Anger

Last week we talked about attitude and how we need to watch our attitude and that attitude is a choice that we have and we control. The previous week we talked about integrity.

This week I’d like to talk about something that a lot of people are talking about and is beginning to be quite an issue especially in work places. It’s the whole question of anger. I remember reading, maybe a month or two back, an elderly couple got pulled out of a vehicle at Khargar because they had parked across a couple of guys riding a bike. They were both beaten very badly. A week or 2 back, we read about a taxi driver who had brushed against another car, the people got out angrily beat him up, took him to Airoli and abandoned him there. All of these incidents of anger we hear about, and realize a lot of people are snapping. There’s behavior that seems to be getting out of control. Maybe you know an office colleague who suddenly snaps at you and portrays behavior that is inconsistent with normal behavior. Or maybe this morning you are dealing with anger. You are an angry person. People in your office walk around you carefully or at home, family members give you a little more space than you really need, or maybe you’ve noticed that laughter dries up when you come on the scene. Maybe you know that you are an angry person, that you’re seething inside but unable to do anything about it. Well, maybe this morning’s talk can help you.