#4 - Anger

It's mostly a defense mechanism. A fleeting emotion that arises when something does not go your way, someone betrays your trust, or something equally undesirable occurrence in one's life. Yet, with this said, anger, as we know it, is not a real emotion.

Underneath any degree of anger in any person, you can find the root emotion, the true emotion. The deepest of sorrows. An epic sadness. And it is usually such a deep, deep sadness, one you almost cannot relate to. One you cannot help or do anything about. And the frustration of your helplessness, the mere heat of realizing you are one powerless soul who can do so little to change the course of the universe - that is the true essence of anger.

In this helpless haze, many people make rash decisions, attempting to take a hold of what is going on around them. A fruitless attempt to rid themselves of the powerlessness, usually. This, then, transforms sadness into a frustrated rage, an outlash of emotion in all forms. In reality, the anger that can be seen on the face of a three-year-old toddler whose mother refuses to buy a desired toy is the exact same anger that afflicts the face of a woman seeking revenge for the murder of her loved one. They are both helpless, frustrated, inconsolably sad, unable to find a way to remedy the situation, and in the end may resort to animal instincts, spurts of emotion, to grasp on to every last bit of power they have to coerce the universe into bending to their needs. Anger is a hurtful sadness that overcomes reason.

Anger isn't real, and perhaps because I realize this, I never feel angry about anything. I have been betrayed, hurt, and life has been less than fair to me, yet I do not get angry. I never take out my emotions on another person, and I forgive other's angered comments or actions very easily. When someone is sad and feels helpless, and are using a defense mechanism, a shield of "anger", the last thing you can do is walk away. Most people put up shields so someone will take them down. Walls are built around us all because we sit inside, quietly hoping, patiently waiting, for someone to come knock them down. We yell at people and get angry at them because we want them to know how helpless we feel. Many people fail to realize this, however, and these helpless people end up alone in life and lead fruitless lives due to people misunderstanding their true feelings and perpetuating their lonely sad interiors.

The only thing that can outweigh this is compassion. Compassion is the only thing that can work through the superficial emotion of anger and remedy the underlying sorrow and hurt. And maybe if that compassion spreads, less people would feel the need to put up their shield of anger to the world. Perhaps anger and hatred could be eradicated entirely, if people only understood, and reached out their hand and touched the soul of someone in need of warmth. Now, this seems as hopeless a goal as solving world hunger, you say.

Well, I say, just as solving world hunger, isn't it worth the try?

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