The author finds a use for anger. Here’s how he uses it without the evil side-effects.
Mood music for this post: “The Fight Song,” by Marilyn Manson:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GFI6Rf-IkI&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
On the surface, telling people to love their anger contradicts everything this blog is about. I’m always writing about my Faith journey and overcoming mental illness and addiction, which is all about finding an inner peace. So what the hell is this about anger?
In my mind, there are two types of anger: The bad kind, that leads people to addiction, killing and plain ‘ol meanness. Then there’s the anger that can be channeled into positive action.
Having lived with both kinds of anger, I know the difference.
The bad anger plunged me into years of addictive behavior and depression. It caused me to hurt friends and family.
The good anger is what kicked me in the back and made me wake up to my demons. Anger was required to fight back.
Anger over the evil mess my life had become led me to my Faith.
I think that’s why I love metal music so much. There’s a lot of anger, and people often confuse that with a love of bad behavior, selfishness and hurt.
In some cases that’s true. But then those things can be found in any musical genre.
For me, the anger in the music was a gift from God to keep my most destructive impulses at bay.
The music grabbed me like a sponge and squeezed the hate out of me.
A wise person from church one noted that it’s OK to feel anger when someone cuts you off in traffic. It’s not OK to aim your car at the person who cut you off.
There’s always that fine line, and the trick is not to cross it.