Hulk SMASH!

Lately I've been dealing with more and more people who have reached an almost absurd level of anger.  Not the stinging, bitey anger that I can diffuse, but the balls-to-the-wall anger that there is no defense against.  Agree with these folks?  It enrages them!  Push back?  Lord have mercy, I am being sued and sworn at!  Present a logical resolution?  They roar in the face of logic (before they punch logic right in it's sensible face)!  In fact, as far as I can tell, all that they want is to be angry.  Which makes me wonder, why?  What do we gain from shoving through life stomping on toes and spitting on the smiles of the innocent? 

I know though.  It's not just that letting anger smash through you and out into the world is so exhilarating. There's more.  Anger is just to tiring.  It's exhausting.  Just being angry makes me shake and sweat.  Being really super extra HULK SMASH mad feels a bit like the flu.  My muscles twitch and ache, sweat rolls off of me like a river, a rage fever burns and the heat waves make vision go wobbly, then my brain gets in on the action and starts to hammer on my skull looking for an escape. Anger gets in my joints, and my guts.  It takes over everything about me, and letting that go would feel sooooooooooo gooooooood.  Letting it go would be such a relief.  Things would be thrown!   Irrational insults and demands made!   Other people would literally suffer my wrath!

SUFFER!   MY!   WRATH!

And then what?  Does Bruce Banner ever come back too, and look pleased?  Does he ever hop back up in his tattered pants and skip off for an ice cream?  No.  He doesn't.  And neither do I.  Because just like the people I'm thrown into contact with, I am mean when I'm angry, and I don't like being mean.  I know that I don't want to hurt people, so I work, and work hard, at controlling myself when I get angry.  Sometimes that means taking time to calm down, and think about things rationally.  It also means I can typically get things resolved without hurting other people, and I'm more likely to get them resolved in a way that makes me happy.  Plus, I think it saves some strain on my heart.

So relax folks, take a breather.  You won't have an many entertaining stories, but you will have a happier life.