Article October 12, 2020 Issue

Anger does not win

Michelle Boccanfuso Nanouche

Originally published in The Christian Science Monitor’s Christian Science Perspective column July 20, 2020.

“It’s an angry time, all right,” writes Katherine Ellison in the Health section of The Washington Post. She reports, “Mental health experts worry about rising domestic violence and drug and alcohol abuse, warning that Americans urgently need better tools to calm emotional storms.”

It’s one thing to hold someone accountable for wrongdoing or injustice. But sometimes we may give in to the pull of ill-tempered anger. Is there a firmer basis we can find for the kind of clear thoughts and reasoned actions, rather than emotion-based reactions, that bring about helpful change?

Like most of us, I have been on the giving and receiving end of anger—some cases appearing justified and others unfounded. One night, I sat outside my raging teenage daughter’s locked bedroom door as she screamed “I hate you!” for hours. I understood. I had messed up and embarrassed her in front of her friends.

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