Anger Mgmt. #1

I think it is ironic that my first blog post is about anger management when my blog is titled Beware of Gentleman. I recently watched the movie Hancock and thought it was one of the more real aspects to what a super hero actually has to deal with.

Spoiler! John Hancock becomes a joke and he is hated all across Los Angeles. He destroys millions of dollars to the city due to his alcoholism and rage. He eventually meets a PR expert that turns John’s image around through anger management and a rehabilitation center. I think we all are like John Hancock in a way because we all have a little anger inside us. Because this seems to be such a large issue I am dedicating my first couple of posts to talk about anger management.

I find that anger is an emotion that is given to us by God. I think that a lot of Christians might be arguing with me right now reading this, but I’d have to argue that it is, but there are different types of anger, good and bad. A girl once said to me “being angry is a sin” and for some odd reason at that age I said “I’d disagree but don’t know why.” In response to what I said, she looked at me like I was an idiot. LoL wasn’t that an expression of anger towards me. :p Now after a few years under my belt I think I can prove her to be wrong.

I think if we didn’t understand what anger was we wouldn't be able to understand the effects of love, grace, and forgiveness. I love how the movie Hancock handles anger and causes Hancock to release it in a more positive way. Anger is a natural human emotion we can’t reject because it is a way of fighting off an attack against our well being which I believe is an ability God gave humans. We are often taught as Christians at a young age that it’s not right to express our anger, anxiety, and depression around others. As a result Christians don’t know how to channel it constructively. Studies have shown that rage is closely connected with the failure to communicate emotions or frankly not practicing communicating our true emotion with others. One in five Americans have an anger management problem and most Americas claim to be Christian. Christianity tends to connect sin with anger but the problem is not the anger it is the misuse of the anger. The misuse of anger doesn’t make it an ability not given by God. I think we often label anger as bad but anger can be a good thing, it’s just that we abuse it far too often.

On the other hand “Let it all hang out” is a dangerous myth as well. Dealing with anger is like being a tight rope walker: you need to know what to do in the situation and how to handle it best, otherwise you’ll tip over and either blow up or let it eat you up. It’s best to find out what triggers your anger and then develop strategies to keep those triggers from tipping you over the edge on both sides of the rope. I’ve tried to learn this art of triggers but I frankly have been failing at it a good portion of my life. Now you’re wondering if you know me how I have anger management problems because you don’t typically see BJ being angry at the world. Well let’s just say that anger isn't as simple as Sunday school made it out to be.