Only fools get angry

Never get angry if you are not a foolish person, why, because only fools get angry. Anger, some see it as your weapon of expression against perceived life unpleasantness, but in reality, it is actually a poison that brings you greater unpleasantness. If I am to give you only one advice, the advice would simply […]

Never get angry if you are not a foolish person, why, because only fools get angry.

Anger, some see it as your weapon of expression against perceived life unpleasantness, but in reality, it is actually a poison that brings you greater unpleasantness.

If I am to give you only one advice, the advice would simply be that, ‘’no matter the provocation, getting enraged is not an option, actually it is the most foolish thing to do’’.

Che Guevara, a revolutionary fighter had once said,’’ if you are in rage, you are one of us’’ and I say, if you are out of rage, you are one of us. If you are really out of rage, you are definitely one of us, said Sadhguru, a teacher of inner engineering.

Anger has been eulogized beyond reasonability in human experience and as a result of this undue eulogy, people often praise themselves for their prowess in getting angry.

In Yoruba circle, temperamental people often say about themselves, ‘’mo man binu gan’’, which literally means someone self-claiming their ability to get angry seamlessly.

The mentality amongst many is that, certain life situations can only be confronted with anger and people who seamlessly get angry see it as a kind of tool to confront life unpleasantness, hence the self-glorification.

Sadhguru from India, a teacher of inner engineering explains that, you only think there is a reason for your anger, which is a wrong perception. Every wise person understands that anger is a foolish man’s way of responding to life issues.

If you look at it critically, people get terribly angry at home with their loved ones, I mean people they are living with, and some bring a whole lot of violence, both physical and emotional violence within their homes. Usually, this happens when they are angry with somebody they love and care for. It doesn’t matter if it’s their friends, family, spouse or relatives; they still bring on the violence when they are angry.

So, what happens if they are angry with people they don’t know, love or cared about? You can only imagine.

The point here is that, they may claim to have good reasons to be angry. Everybody always do. May be because she didn’t cook the food on time, or because he didn’t drop enough money for the family, or maybe she came back home late. Some people yell, break and scream at each other even on a date, when they are supposed to be having a good time. Angry people always have good reasons to be angry.

But this is what you should know. When you are angry, every doctor knows this, that when you are angry, literally, you are generating poison within your own system, literally, that is exactly what you are doing. You are poisoning yourself.

So, if you are poisoning yourself internally, simply because you want to react to external issues or behavior of other people, don’t you think something is terribly wrong with you?

When you are angry, you know as much as I do, that when you are angry, you do the most idiotic things in your life. When you turn back and see what you did during your moment of rage, even you can’t believe you did it.

The legendary Nelson Mandela of South Africa had once said, hate is like poisoning yourself and hoping that your enemy dies. He went further to state that, ‘’nobody is born hating another person’’, and I say that, anger actually leads to hatred. You cannot hate what you are not angry against.

So, if I am to give you only one advice, the advice would simply be that, ‘’no matter the provocation, getting enraged is not an option, actually it is the most foolish thing to do’’.

Abdulrazaq Hamzat writes from Abuja, Nigeria. [email protected]