The thing is this: You got to have fun while you’re fightin’ for freedom, ‘cause you don’t always win….. Our Texas freedom-fighters have been prone to misbehavior ever since. A recent Ku Klux Klan rally in Austin produced an eccentric counter-demonstration. When the fifty Klansmen appeared (they were bused in from Waco) in front of the state capitol, they were greeted by five thousand locals who had turned out for a “Moon the Klan” rally. Citizens dropped trou both singly and in groups, occasionally producing a splendid wave effect. It was a swell do.
I’ve found myself contemplating a lot of things lately. I suppose significant life changes will spur introspection and self-examination among those so inclined…and I do seem to be prone to turning my gaze inward from time to time. My quest for stability, both emotionally and in other aspects of my life, has led me to look at how I deal with the world around me…which, to be brutally honest, has never been one of my strong points. Over the past almost ten years, this space has often been where I vented my anger and frustration over the injustice and unfairness of…well, life, the universe, and pretty much everything else. Raging against the machine has only left me with a raspy voice and a headache.
One of the things I’ve tried to learn how to deal with more effectively is anger. Being an observer of what’s happening in the larger world, there’s much that I, if I so choose (and I too often have), could expend impressive amounts of righteous anger over. It took me a few years of doing this to realize that anger, unless directed to action designed to change things, is really just so much heat and light, ultimately signifying nothing of use or value. Sure, I can get angry…but then what? What’s changed? What’s been made better? Am I in a better place for that anger? Too often, the answers to those questions has been “nothing”, “no”, and “not by a long shot.” So really, then, the only impact my anger has had has been on me in a decidedly negative manner. A lot of psychic energy and much Sturm und Drang…all toward what end, exactly? Ah…that is the question, Grasshopper. And the answer is evidently still blowing in the wind.
While perusing one of my favorite blogs, I came across a post on this very subject, which set me to thinking. Amanda Marcotte and I share a love and admiration for the late, great Molly Ivins, who possessed a gift for skewering the ignorant and the hypocritical with a humor and grace I can only hope to approximate. Writing about Texas and Texas politics had to have been something that left Ivins feeling a frequent need to take a shower, but she dealt with it by finding ways to make fun of the miscreants and pinheads- which the Lone Star State possesses with a plenitude that’s frankly embarrassing. Where others (myself included) might have (not unjustifiably) resorted to anger, Ivins chose laughter and ridicule.
Marcotte states her philosophy in a manner I hope to do a better job of emulating:
So by all means, get angry when you need to. Don’t let the church ladies “concern” you out of your righteous anger. But don’t forget how important is to laugh at these fools. If there was a god, I’d have to believe he put them there specifically to make sure Jon Stewart never runs out of jokes.
Yeah, there are a lot of things I could be angry about, but the one thing I’ve learned along the way is that anger doesn’t change a thing…save for my blood pressure and my disposition. Evil, stupid people will still do evil, stupid things. Politicians will traffic in pandering, propaganda, and self-interest. All manner of other aggravations will rear their ugly heads…and guess what? There’s not a damn thing I can do about it. Yeah, I can shine a light on it. I can ridicule it. I can have fun with it. But getting angry rarely is a serviceable option anymore.
Perhaps I’m finally growing up…or perhaps I’m finally learning that I’m in a better place when I can keep my powder dry. ;-)
