Being Angry

This quote showed up in my email today:

Anger is not bad. Anger can be a very positive thing, the thing that moves us beyond the acceptance of evil. (Joan Chittister, OSB)

It’s not often that I associate the things (or people) with which I’m angry with evil, but this makes sense to me. I’m there. My anger is not bad. It refines my emotions. It helps me understand what is really going on in my world and in my heart. It tells me that there are things I don’t have to, nor should accept.

As a woman I have been taught that anger is not OK.

I need to keep that emotion to myself.

It’s ugly.

It’s unpredictable.

It’s too raw.

It’s not feminine.

It’s out-of-control.

And the worst one: it’s not a Christian response.

So, what are the alternatives to justified anger given these restraints?

A pretty poker face that hides every true emotion.
Tamed, toned-down responses to things that happen to and around me.
“Feminine” (at least as defined by society) expressions vs. true/honest ones.
A controlled, repressed way of being.
And a Christianity that’s defined by niceness.

No thanks – to all of it.

I think I’ll just be angry…and grateful that in feeling such I am honest, aware, and a woman who knows the truth about herself and what is happening in and around her.

And I’m pretty sure I can still call myself a Christian.

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