Anger: An A to Z Challenge Shenanigan

By - April 1, 2013

“Usually when people are sad, they don't do anything. They just cry over their condition. But when they get angry, they bring about a change.” –James Russell Lowell

I'm participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge all during the month of April, so this month, tune in every day except Sunday, tune in for a new post.  Each will be themed in alphabetical order.  Today's post starts it off with the letter A (obviously). I hope you'll join me in this blogging adventure.  Now, on to the post! 

I’m not a peaceful person.  I’ll be the first to tell anyone, I can get angry, particularly when I have a good reason.  I hate all things passive-aggressive, and I would much rather be up front about whatever it is we happen to be “aggressing” about.  I’m also not like a lot of people who think anger does more harm than good.  I happen to believe there is a time and place for anger, and if you can learn to channel your anger, a lot of good can come from it.

Writing and pursuing publication provides a great example of a time when anger is sometimes therapeutic as well as ways to deal with it that are productive…and ways that aren’t.  Take people currently querying agents.  You’ve all read the horror stories: a writer queries an agent, and the agent turns the writer down. The next thing you know, the writer shoots back an irritated response about the agent’s stupidity for letting the next million-dollar novel pass him or her by.  Most of us know exactly where this person will go next (that agent’s “crazy writer” list). 

However, for every handful of writers who make the wrong move after rejection, there’s another group of writers who query, get a rejection, and get mad in a different way.  They’ll get so mad they’ll send out a dozen more queries, but not before they’ve tweaked that query letter to make it so perfect it can’t possibly be turned down.  It is this group of writers who perseveres because of their anger.

Productive anger doesn’t just exist in publishing, either.  It is alive and well in everyday life.  For example, take the waiter friend of mine whose old boss treated him horribly, had him working at all hours covering for anyone and everyone who called in sick or with any reason for missing work, including the boss’ spoiled son who skipped out of work dozens of times for things like concerts, a date, or wanting to stay home and play a new video game. Would it do him a load of good to get fed up with his boss and serve him split pea and laxative soup for lunch one day?  Not really.  Did it do him good to get so angry with a boss that treated him terribly so that he refused to be a doormat anymore and went and applied to every job he could find just so that he could get another position at a place better for him?  Absolutely.

Do you think anger can be productive, or do you think it’s better to always turn the other cheek?