Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Lashing Out

Few can say with any accuracy or truth that losing control and lashing out has not been a part of life, at one time or another.  Strongly felt opinions, feelings of deficiency, resentment; even ideas of inadequacy or insecurity can trigger such outbursts.

The family pet, a significant other, an airline ticket agent, the car ahead of you in a drive-through may be unsuspecting targets . . . usually there are regrets, sometimes simply a satisfied, smug feeling of vindication.  In fact, this scenario, too often repeated within human interaction frameworks, is not just unnecessary but usually pointless except for venting frustration which has been allowed to simmer too long.

No one is responsible for someone else's state of mind.  This commonly held, randomly applied fallacy has caused so much unrest, unpleasantness, divisiveness, turmoil and even crime that perhaps it should be at least acknowledged, if not addressed with some interest.

When that angry, unreasoning energy arises the next time -- take a few moments to view it as a curious bystander might - is this simply a one-person show?  It may appear entirely different, to the point of interrupting a tirade which could escalate far past the issue which elicited its origin.  In other words, it could save the peace.

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