Army of Priests

When I was young I remember a time when my parents committed some high crime of corporal punishment and I subsequently got angry with my younger brother (though, I can’t remember much more than that). My parents weren’t happy about this, so they told me that being angry was a sin, in the hope that I would “get my act together”. I wasn’t so sure about my parents claim, so I asked some other adults if “anger was a sin” with the kind of naive understanding of sin that all children have. These adults weren’t too happy to contradict my parents, but they disagreed with what they said, so they told me that what I did with my anger determined if I was sinning or not (but in words with less syllables).

Anger is an interesting emotion. It has the uniquely powerful ability to alter human behaviour unlike any other motivating factor I know. Anger can cause a husband, in a moment of poor judgement, to strike his wife even despite the bonds of love they have formed. It can cause huge groups of people to boycott a company where their greed would normally have them eager to buy the company’s products. It can start wars and turn otherwise decent people into mobs. It can destroy lives.

Yet anger can also be a huge force for good. I seem to be able to overcome all sorts of personal failings once I become angry enough with myself. When I learn about the plight of the poor and their exploitation by the rich I become angry because of the injustice. Indeed, nothing makes me so angry as to see legal injustice. They call this “righteous anger”. Even Jesus got angry. He persistently gave the Pharisees a tongue lashing, and even used a whip to get money launderers out of the temple.

Passion is anger. Someone who is passionate about movies or music gets angry with artists who will cut corners and tarnish the art for a few more bucks. As a programmer I get angry when I see lazy programmers that wont do that little bit more to make a huge difference to the user’s experience – it taints the profession. Every passion in my life results in greater action when it is firmly rooted in anger at laziness, incompetence or injustice; and a great desire not to become subject to these things.

Passion is good. Passion is the fuel that puts your life into high gear and lets you do something meanwhile rather than lethargically going through the motions of the rat race.  Yet anger is an expensive emotion and passion often becomes just a silent whisper asking us to pay attention to something we have little time for. I am too busy to be passionate, and too emotionally drained to be angry. So rather than get angry I become disillusioned or cynical – these are cheap emotions, poor counterfeits for anger, that paralyse us in a bog of self-pity.

Cynical people are far safer for society than angry people. Cynical people do not challenge society to deal with its social ills or aim for higher levels of achievement. They just doggedly accept the status quo and continue to grudgingly participate in the very things they are cynical of. Yet, at least in Australia, cynicism is far more acceptable than anger. Australian humour has roots in cynicism and as such cynical celebrities and characters often grace our television screens. Yet people who are angry and genuinely passionate about achievement or justice rarely make public appearances. If they do, they are cast as the dark, vengeful victim-turned-villain rather than as a contributing member of society. (A small note to consider: the media’s job in society is to ensure that the people currently making money continue to make money)

There also seems to be a fine line between righteous anger, and lesser, destructive forms of anger. No one who is angry will ever consider their anger to be unjustified. Really, what is the difference between anger over exploitive mining practises in PNG versus anger against the prick that stole your parking space? At what point does anger become destructive? You could say it is when you hurt people, but what about when you are throwing in jail someone who has been hurting others? What is the difference between justice and anger?

These are a collection of thoughts I’m pondering at the moment. I am keen to get your contribution to the discussion in my head.