Dear Life

"Anger is an uncontrollable feeling that betrays what you are when you are not yourself. Anger is that powerful internal force that blows out the light of reason." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

My whole life it has always bothered me to hear the response, "Because I was mad." Things aren't just all of a sudden okay because you are mad. It is said in the bible that a person led by emotions is a double sided man, unstable in all his ways. People make so many life altering decisions in the midst of their anger and emotions.

I once said that "anger is an emotion that denies progress." Emotions are everything absent from logic, emotions are erattic and spontaneous. You are not who you truly desire to be when you are angry, the quote above is so powerful because it defines the emotion of anger as "uncontrollable." You may not be able to control the circumstances that spark anger within you, but you and solely you are responsible and can control the reactions you take as a result of whatever circumstance.

The quote says anger is an "internal force," it starts within and ends within. When you are outside of the "light of reason," you are in the dark. There is no direction in the dark. "Because I was mad," will never be a viable excuse for erratic and illogical actions. Sometimes its as elementary as counting to ten. Think first.

Rob Hill