Dear Friends,
It seems to me, the more you hold on to anger, the poorer, more sickly you become and the shorter your life. The trick to growing older, is to learn not to grab at every incident in life, but to let them pass through oneself. Letting anger pass through and never grabbing it eventually becomes second nature. Life then is much easier. The small annoyances no longer annoy, and the large ones can be dealt with logically, to get the best possible outcome. I have known people who laugh off anger and others who clutch at anything and everything that could possibly, in some way, no matter how remote, piss them off. To a man, those who laugh it off live to old ages, in good health to enjoy it. While those who live in a bright fury, die at absurdly young ages, or have unending health issues.
I knew a man who died at the ripe old age of 52. Call him Eggbert. Eggbert was a very orderly person. You could put a plumb against any of his snowbanks. His yard was immaculate as was his work space. He would set across the break table from me, smoking a Bell Aire Cigarette, a vein in his forehead bulging as he said, “If those church people knock over my snow bank, one MORE TIME!” I would sit back aghast at the vehemence. Then one Sunday I received a call. Eggbert couldn’t do his job and could I fill in. “Of course,” was my answer, “but what is wrong with Eggbert?” “He died, they found him in the driveway, he had a heart attack shoveling his drive.” was the response. It was Sunday and hadn’t snowed in a few weeks. The church people had knocked down his snowbank… one more time.
In the movie Dumb and Dumber, the lead evil assassin has held onto so much anger, it has created extreme stomach issues for him. The assassin infiltrates the two imbeciles and they aggravate him all the more. Since he is unable to let anything pass through himself, he becomes ever more agitated. Eventually the two fools, without intent to do real harm but as a practical joke, load his burger with diablo peppers. When he swallows a huge gulp of his burger the hot peppers almost kills him on the spot. Of course, that is just fiction, but the premise is one we all know. The guy who gets mad at everything has ulcers, strokes and heart trouble. He or she lives in a white heat all the time. Burning his life like a flame thrower does fuel… and is as easily detonated.
Medical costs alone justify becoming a more controlled person but the real payoff is economic. I knew men when I was a child who would say, “I don’t take any guff from a boss! I let them know just where we stand!” Inevitably, they were unemployed, had back problems and were on welfare. At the time, I didn’t understand why it was so much more honorable, to fight with someone paying you to do a job than to accept charity? Later I discovered that anger issues go along with a lack of employment opportunities. One facet of growing up, is to learn the ability to let anger go. Those who have not taken that step are far less employable than those who have. Nevertheless, not having to go back and forth to the doctor for an assortment of issues is a blessing, one that is available to most of us.
When we are young, it is as hard to let go of that comforting anger, as it is a branch we are grasping while we dangle over a cliff. The difference is, if we let go of anger we will fly, not drop. We see the results of people who have not grown out of their anger in ANTIFA violence. Overgrown children really, who have the backing of an evil faction, so their anger can be turned into actual violence. Like Mao did with the cultural revolution. Where the young went around beating up the old for, not being communist enough. So lastly, not being able to let anger go, makes one susceptible to manipulation by evil people. I should think that alone sufficient to begin to consciously let anger pass through. The ability is a learned trait, like driving a car or riding a bike… and even more useful.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
