A Lesson In Anger, Delete That, Love

MANILA: You are looking at a sea of yellow. Look at Mar Roxas; look at his face; that is the face driven by ambition – to serve the people. Motivated. Forward-looking. Honest. Decent. (Image from Sun Star, gallery.sunstar.com.ph.)

The venerable Inquirer columnist Solita Monsod says of him (16 April 2016, Presidentiables sans the spin, opinion.inquirer.net):

He's a graduate of Wharton Business School (major in economics), an investment banker in America. Congressman for seven years, senator for six years, in the executive branch for nine years, with DTI, DOTC, DILG. As legislator, authored/sponsored several laws such as RA 8759 establishing in municipalities a Public Employment Service Office as an employment facilitation and information center, and linking job opportunities within the region; RA 7880 ensuring fair distribution of the education capital budget among provinces. He authored the Cheaper Medicines Law, overcoming a tremendous lobby by big pharma.

In the executive branch, he is the acknowledged father of the BPO (call centers); initiator of the Personal Computers for Public Schools Program (helping over 500,000 high school students); the Sulong Program, which granted over P26 billion in loans to SMSEs in its first year; the Tamang Timbang, Tamang Presyo program for consumers in the marketplace; and Oplan Lambat-Sibat (anticrime) and Oplan Likas (disaster management). His website has more information on his accomplishments.

"Sans the spin" means straight to the point, no packaging, no marketing. Thank you, Solita Monsod; you're an angel!

Contrast with Dirty Harry. You know who he is. I am not going to mention his name ever again; you shouldn't too. That is negative publicity, and that counts in his favor. That is why he is always spouting the negative, psychologically to win friends and influence people. And because he has nothing positive about him.

Now take a hard look at Dirty Harry's face; that is the face eaten by anger. You are a good person; why do you allow his anger to be yours?

He makes you angry; that's his game. "Never respond to an angry person with a fiery comeback, even if he deserves it. Don't allow his anger to become your anger" – Bohdi Sanders, Warrior Wisdom: Ageless Wisdom for the Modern Warrior.

"The (Dirty Harry) vote is the voice of angry Filipinos," writes F Sionil Jose, a National Artist for Literature, in a Facebook post (web.facebook.com). He writes of the impending disintegration of his nation, our nation. F Sionil Jose is angry; I know he has almost always been angry, because that's how he writes. I have almost never been angry. If I am right, why should I be angry? If I am wrong, all the more reason not to be angry!

The apostle is right. "The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speak" – Luke 6:45, NRSV. If anger comes out of your mouth, hate is what resides in your heart.

Dirty Harry is always angry. You don't need a special talent to become angry. "Anybody can become angry – that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way – that is not within everybody's power and is not easy" – Aristotle.

Dirty Harry and F Sionil Jose are angry. "Angry people are not always wise" – Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice. Touché!

Let us hold on to what is true and right and holy. "Don't hold (on) to anger, hurt or pain. They steal your energy and keep you from love" – Leo Buscaglia. Your anger on Dirty Harry's anger is keeping you from the best thing in life: Love. Try it sometime.

Those who are angry, look into the mirror! Remember this: "Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die" – Gautama Buddha.

How exactly do you deal with anger? "I would not look upon anger as something foreign to me that I have to fight.  I have to deal with my anger with care, with love, with tenderness, with nonviolence" – Thich Nhat Hanh, Being Peace.

Right or wrong, being angry is wrong. "And I just want to tell you, at some point it doesn't matter who was right and who was wrong. At some point, being angry is just another bad habit, like smoking, and you keep poisoning yourself without thinking about it" – Jonathan Tropper, This is Where I Leave You.

Dirty Harry wants to make you angry. He must know something you don't! "Anger is stupid, and stupidity will kill you more surely than your opponent's blade" – Patricia Briggs, Dragon Bones. Dirty Harry is trying to induce stupidity in his opponents.

Don't justify your anger; it doesn't make it right. "Anger based on calculated reason is more dangerous than anger based on blind hate" – Richelle Mead, Last Sacrifice.

The best reply to anger is forgiveness, which is the beginning of love. "Conquer the angry one by not getting angry; conquer the wicked by goodness; conquer the stingy by generosity, and the liar by speaking the truth" – Gautama Buddha, The Dhammapada.

In anger, you diminish yourself. "Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond what you are" – Cherie Carter-Scott.

My favorite quote on this? "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good" – Romans 12:21, NRSV. Why favorite? Because it is something impossible to do – and that is why you have to do it.

He makes you angry because he wants to control you. "I came to realize that if people could make me angry they could control me. Why should I give someone else such power over my life?" – Ben Carson, Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story.

"Get mad, then get over it." – Colin Powell.

I go back to F Sionil Jose: "Minus the verbosity, (Dirty Harry) represents radical change." Of course not! He is not verbose – his mouth is subversive. "Change begins with you." He does not represent radical change; he does not even represent change at all, as he cannot even change himself.

This essay is about anger, so I end in anger! With this, a final lesson in war and peace, from Lao Tzu:

"The best fighter is never angry."