One Man's Observation

I am an observer by nature and one by profession. There is a question that seems to keep reverberating in my mind. That question is, “Just How Angry Are We?” It is easy to see the increase of violence in our society. All one has to do is to perceive any of our media resources and find plenty of examples. If I were to broach that subject it would only be a case of stating the obvious. But what I would like to address is the not so obvious.

For a nation of people that claim to be any where from 35% to 49% faith-based, it certainly does not prove itself by our actions. Let me explain, there are two primary environments that I’ll address. One is the freeway, the other the grocery store. While they may seem unrelated, there are repetitive actions in both arenas. The term our officials call it for the way we drive is that one is being an “aggressive driver.” There are those that tend to take an adverse move, such as a car switching lanes continuously, or a car cutting in front of them without signaling, personally and tend to tailgate in retaliation. But is not aggressiveness a form of anger?

Picture this. You’re standing in the aisle of a grocery store. You’re facing the shelf because you are about to make a purchase. Suddenly someone just squeezes between you and the shelf. You even have to step backward to make room for them to pass. You look behind you and there was no obvious obstruction that should have caused them to do what they did. Most times, we just think, “how rude.” I believe that it is more than lack of common courtesy, that’s “aggression”.

Could it be that many really do not know what their purpose in life is? To the extent that they are angry and don’t even understand why. Internal anger (aggression) will always find ways of expression. This not knowing the source of the anger can only exacerbate the emotion.

The Word of God states that love never fails. And since God is love, it would seem that love is the key to overcoming anger. The Word of God states, that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. Maybe its time to get to know ourselves that we might be changed.

Just one man’s observation.