This past week I had a driving experience that’s not that rare – another driver vigorously flipped me off. Rather than be provoked, I smiled and waved. Apparently, he didn’t like that response.
As I pulled away, he sped up, pulled up beside me, lowered his window and began screaming at me and even more vigorously flipped me off. I couldn’t fully read his lips, but several words were clear and you can guess what they were. In response, I did the same thing – smiled and waved.
As I pulled away I started to wonder what drives that level of rage over minor driving issues. I admit that I used to occasionally flip people off and yell at them, but I haven’t done that for years. It makes me wonder – what are we so angry about and where else is that anger coming out in our lives?
We so often see and hear about situations where people’s anger turned into not only rage, but rage in action. In fact, recently a former judge (Lance Mason) went from someone who beat his ex-wife (he had already been to prison for that) to someone who apparently killed his ex-wife (stabbed her to death). It’s a deeply sad situation and I wonder, what was he so angry about and what triggered him to turn that anger into raging action?
It’s easy to think that being angry is natural (and it is), but unleashing it on others is not natural or okay. And I wonder – what if our everyday anger is just a stride away from rage in action? Big or small, out of control and unconscious anger usually comes out when we don’t intend it and even more often is directed at the people closest to us (even if they’re not the source of our anger).
Pay attention to your anger … we might not be that far from raging action!
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