God didn’t give matchstick a brain; it burns and loses its head.

On the other hand man, the epitome of evolution, gifted with brain loses head so often as he is wont to burn with seething rage and unreasoned-uncontrolled anger.

True, anger is salutary – up to a point. And there seems no harm in allowing vent-weight to hiss-and-let-go of suppressed steam.

However, frequent emotional outbursts do you no good unless you label tummy-going-in-knots, breaths-becoming-fast-and furious, headaches-that-make-concentration-history or accelerated-heartbeats-that ruin-relationships-and-kill as the worthy joy-inducing elements.

Visualize a work day cram with back-to-back meetings, heart-wrenching attempts to meet deadlines in spite of tom-fool-treachery of a once trusted colleague, and then before you touch home you have to get that eye-catching robotic toy your four year old has set his eyes on as his birthday present.

You drive furiously, jumping headlights, not minding traffic-rule violation tickets and arrive at the store to find that last piece for which you had phoned repeatedly to keep for you, has sold out.

Your face gets red with anger, perspiration beads on your forehead defy the freezing cold and you mouth the chicest expletives, violently angry at the shop keeper for breaking his promise.

Only if you had paused, ran your mind over the possibilities of locating that toy somewhere else, perhaps you could have succeeded.

How truly it is said that anger rides out reason!

For every minute in the grip of the angry-state, you give up, as Ralph Waldo Emerson said, sixty seconds of that blissful commodity, peace of mind.

John D Rockefeller Jr, around World War I passed trough a bad patch, attracting hate, anger and abuse during the miners’ strike in Colorado.

Instead of hurling back the abuses and letting the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company miners realize their misplaced derision and violence, Rockefeller opted for an emotional bonding by a scintillating speech that was to tell the American nation that here was a man with a difference.

He said: “It is the first time I have ever had the good fortune to meet the representatives of the employees of this great company… and I can assure you that I am proud to be here.. Having had an opportunity… of visiting all the camps .. having visited in your homes… we meet here not as strangers but as friends… and I am glad to have this opportunity to discuss with you our common interests… it is only by your courtesy that I am here..”

Sound pleasing, doesn’t it?

Next time when you boil over allowing the demon of anger to ride out reason and propelling you to bang your vulnerable head against hard steel as you harbour a feeling that you never get appreciated for your hard work, or that people cheat on you, take a breather, count up to the proverbial ten and put to yourself one small query:
Is getting angry really worth it?