Tag: anger; injustice

There was a time when I thought that anger was a bad emotion. We’re told to “cultivate peace in our hearts,” that “anger will eat you up inside,” and “to let it go.” Now I know it’s not that simple.

One of my favorite people that I’ve worked with gave me a new perspective about anger. We were talking about how a person with authority in our office treated people disrespectfully and mismanaged programs. This wasn’t a case of a little rudeness here and there; this was systematic bad management.

After venting to my coworker, I said something like “I should try to not get angry about this.” He stopped me and said, “There’s nothing wrong with righteous anger.”

I hadn’t thought of it that way before and it changed the way I viewed my feelings about the situation. I was reacting to injustice. Being aware of the problem and angry about it was better than pretending it wasn’t happening and that I should feel ok about it.

Anger has energy. If righteous anger fuels us to stand up to injustice, then it’s not a bad emotion. It’s a signal that our values are being violated and an energy to work towards change.