Giving Up on Anger,
Anger seems to be more and more common in our society. Living in London all of my life, I have seen anger al over, in the streets, at school, college, in the papers and even on the tv. We read of (and experience) road rage. Wherever we go, we encounter angry people. This anger, more or less violent in expression, arising from real or imagined slights, offenses, misconduct, differences in people of other ages, races, sexes, modes of dress and the like, often appears baseless and is therefore more frightening. I certainly know that I have alot of anger, and for the most stupid reasons ever. I seem to just carry this heavyweight of mixed emotions around. Expressions of anger are more and more often misdirected, directed at people who have nothing whatever to do with the cause of the anger. I someties wonder where all this anger comes from. Our society here in Doha is experiencing major changes and I believe the stress which inevitably accompanies change is a major cause of anger. We can no longer rely on history to guide us; it seems that we must confront a different world every day! I had a friend who noted that we were always told as schoolchildren that the one thing nobody could ever take away from you is your education- now your legislature, your sponser(especially here in Qatar)- your employer, the rapid changes occurring in society can take away your education and unsettle everything you relied on to get you through each day.
Recently I find that I am often angry: I am angry at people who get in my way on the road, I am angry at co-workers who interfere with my progress, I am angry at women and men, young and old, neighbors and strangers.
As I get older, two solutions to my anger presente themselves. The first is that realization that anger only makes things worse, that my anger only hurts me. When a reaction only makes things worse, we need to change the reaction. The second is related to the first, the conscious effort to control my anger. I discovered that if I can control the expression of anger, the anger dissipated and that if the anger dissipated I can more easily deal with the problem that leads to my anger. By not giving in to my anger and joining in violent confrontations, I become less and less angry, to the point where I never get angry at all. And by giving up anger, I am finding that I can solve problems more easily, I have fewer problems to solve.
I wish I could give to everyone an inner voice, a voice which constantly repeats calm down, don't be angry, cool off, count to ten, bite your tongue or whatever words work to reduce anger. The lives of all of us who would otherwise be the target of anger would be better. Perhaps more importantly, the lives of the people who would otherwise be angry would be better......Omar just calm down, keep repeating it
