Righteous Anger--And Why It's Right.

Yes, I believe in "righteous anger"--even in this day and age where "anger" of almost any kind of frowned upon. And, once again, those cultural and/or societal forces that we still don't like to talk about are wrong, and for good reasons.

First, you may ask what is "righteous anger"? Well, without delving too deeply into the psychological aspect(s), righteous anger is the type that's good for the body, mind and soul--anger that results from a wound against oneself that strikes one's core values--and an anger that can be channeled into something that will not only be non-destructive to the offender, but also not to the one who's been wounded.

Looking at it biblically, Christ's reaction to the money-changers in the New Testament Gospels is a good example. He emphatically turned over the money-changers tables in the temple--all the while accusing them of turning his Father's temple into a house of thieves. The money-changers actions so wounded him that it provoked physical anger from the One who was sinless. And, that's all I need to know about what I consider fact: righteous anger is NOT a sin.

Well, let's bring it to the present day, shall we? What are some justifications of righteous anger in our American culture of 2009? I can think of several, but I'll name a few: for married couples, the violation of the marraige covenant via adultery, abuse and or addiction; a boss that sets up an employee to fail--making life on the job so miserable that the employee either quits or ultimately gets fired; or, just your basic gossip that's designed to passively-aggressively hurt someone.

My bout with righteous anger this afternoon came out of an anxiety attack that got me so pissed that I channeled my anger into cleaning the house and then later charging up my legs at the gym's squat rack (I had a personal best of 8-deep reps at 285)!. My attack came from the anger I felt at myself for not giving my best at one of my free-lance writing gigs, and oustide of me? The mess that is our American economy and the powers-that-be not being willing to allow the folks that are largely responsible for the mess pay the price for the errors of their high-fallutin' ways (AIG, big banks, big autos, etc.. ).

But my biggest piece of righteous anger was at a notion--a notion that we don't like to talk about--taboo, if you will-- that I think is just completely wrong, but needs to be brought to light: we as human beings are NOT designed to be happy-go-lucky positive all the time, or even most of the time. You can substitute the word "CHRISTIAN" for "HUMAN BEING" if you like. Much of my anxiety this afternoon came because I am being told both actively and passively by much of American religious and secular cultuer that I MUST put a happy face on a very scary time in my life--and it just plain pissed me off--largely because it has no root in fact.

Truth be told, I don't really trust people who are positive all the time. I don't consider it real. Now, I don't trust people who are negative all the time, either. In fact, I trust them less. But, neither are being real. And like it or not--and it doesn't matter your religious, economic, or cultural background--our capacity for anger is there for a reason, and if it's channeled in a benevolent direction, it can be, well, beneficial. Again, look at Christ at the temple calling out the money-changers. He wasn't that calm, collected individual that day. No, he was fiery, blunt, and in-your-face. He picked his spot. Why should we be any different?

Well, today, I picked mine. And I don't feel the least bit bad about it, and if you find yourself in a similar situation, you shouldn't either. There's no rule IN THE LIGHT that says one must be calm, cool and collected with a smile on your face with nothing but happy thoughts all the time or even most of the time no matter what. If you feel wronged and feel sufficiently wounded, stand up for yourself and say you don't deserve it. If you're a woman and you do this and get called a bitch, well that would be the offender's opinion, but you know better. You're a human being that doesn't deserve being treated with anything less than the dignity with which you treat others. If you're a guy and the offender calls you a prick, well, same thing applies. Standing up for yourself, your values, your place in this world after being wounded sufficiently is righteous anger--thanks for being a man and standing your ground.

One last thing, though. Righteous anger does NOT give you the place to channel it destructively. Standing up for yourself is one thing--physical retaliation that sends somebody to the hospital, or verbal abuse that is intended to wound the offender is just as bad if not worse than what the offender did to you--largely because you know better. I know what I try to do: pull weeds, pump iron, clean house, shoot basketballs, and not necessarily in that order. But it is absolutely okay to feel what you feel without turning it in a destructive direction toward people, animals and/or property. And the to the "cultural forces" that discourage righteous anger in the darkness of "taboo"? Well, they can kiss my righteously angry ass.

There. And, I'm not angry any more!