Who's Angry?

Anger is a funny emotion. Anger can be a negative and destructive force. Anger can be positive and bring about needed change. Angry, negative people are like poison that is contagious. Roots of bitterness can cause people to grow into a more destructive anger. Can anger be stopped or do we just ignore angry people?

All life is precious, we should be angry when a child is hurt.

 
Here is today's Wise Saying from Proverbs 22:24-25

Proverbs 22:24-25

New International Version (NIV)

Saying 3

²⁴ Do not make friends with a hot-tempered person,
    do not associate with one easily angered,
²⁵ or you may learn their ways
    and get yourself ensnared.

Proverbs 22:24-25

The Message (MSG)

^24-25 Don’t hang out with angry people;
    don’t keep company with hotheads.
Bad temper is contagious—
    don’t get infected.

Proverbs 22:24-25

King James Version (KJV)

²⁴ Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go:
²⁵ Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul.

Proverbs 22:24-25

Amplified Bible (AMP)

²⁴ Make no friendships with a man given to anger, and with a wrathful man do not associate,

²⁵ Lest you learn his ways and get yourself into a snare.

This Wise Saying seems to appear fairly simple: "Don't hang around angry folks or you will catch their angry attitude like a contagious disease." I tried to think of angry people that I knew and I couldn't think of any. The closest I could come to finding angry people was in our Youth Center. Sometimes when we play basketball, one of the guys will get mad and lose his cool. It doesn't last long and we nip any destructive behavior in the bud. If we have to, we ask him to leave. We will not tolerate angry behavior. Because I couldn't think of too many angry folks that I knew, I began to look over my own history of dealing with anger.

I remember losing my cool big time with  a young man who was taunting me over the outcome of an election a few years ago. The winning candidate was a prolific abortion supporter. I am a prolifically pro-life. I believe that all children are gifted on both sides of the womb. I began to feel the anger well up inside me. I started laundering my behavior through the detergent of rationalization. I feel pain and anger thinking about children who are sucked out of their mothers womb during an abortion. I raised my voice as I lost my temper and began to yell at him and tell him he was just as responsible for the murder of children as the candidate he voted for. My behavior was wrong and so was my misdirected anger. I did apologize a day or so later but the damage was done. My reputation in that young man's eyes was tarnished. Anger can leave scars. My anger at the destruction of human life is not wrong. My anger that does not produce positive change is wrong.

This morning at a very productive meeting in Buffalo's West Hertel Academy, we heard about anger of another sort. We have a mentoring program at Youth With A Purpose Inc. and we always receive calls for help. In the Buffalo Schools where we mentor, students are asked how many of them know a friend or relative who has been a victim of gun violence. A large number of them raise their hands. The children who have been secondary victims of violence are wounded themselves. Without understanding the wound, they eventually explode emotionally. If they don't explode, their behavior is generally self destructive. It was a a pleasure to be a part of a meeting with a group of people who genuinely have sincere compassion for the children they serve. These people are proactive in identifying children who are hurting emotionally. If a young person who is wounded emotionally is not mentored or counseled, anger can become a natural outlet. We can prevent anger.

Today's Wise Saying causes me to go angrily deep into the causes of anger. I have known many adults who are still taking out misplaced anger on other people. Both men and women who were abused as children take their unhealed emotions out on other adults. They might do it unconsciously but it is still destructive to themselves and their victims. Too often, victimized children become victimizers as adults. The cycle of anger continues. There is a time to walk away from angry people and there is a time to stay and pray.  

I saw this sign as I was driving home after a visit with a young inmate. It's true.

The best form of healing from anger that I know is through the study of Jesus. His story is one of wretched and complete brokenness. He healed many people who we would consider unworthy or responsible for their own woundedness. Whether you believe in sin or not, any willful act or word that can harm another person physically or emotionally is wrong. Jesus went to the cross for the wrongs that we do. He heals us and gives a model of living that leads to a peace that transcends all understanding.

Thanks for your time. Go do something nice for somebody.
Jesus loves you and so do we.