Coping with anger all around us

There’s a lot of anger going around. It’s perfectly understandable, given what’s going on around us. Getting angry is perfectly reasonable under the circumstances but if you get so angry that you can’t control it, someone else will control you instead by playing on your emotions, and you don’t want that.

Some people explode with anger a lot, some keep it together, only to snap when a seemingly minor issue arises, much to the bewilderment of everyone around them. There are also people who don’t seem to be fazed by anything at all, but that’s more like apathy, or a deliberate shutting off from the world, which is a good tactic when used in certain situations, but not all the time. Meandering between personality types gets particularly tricky during what is – in most cultures around the world – the time as we get closer to the end of the year. That’s the moment of summing up what we’ve done throughout the year, of seeing what’s going to happen next, of family meetings. Some look at the next year with hope, and some with dread.

That time is also about finding parties, or being dragged to parties whether one likes it or not, only to dance and get pirouetted while rolling one’s eyes in silent, yet angry, protest. Drink, dance, debate is the name of the game for many. And seduce, of course. When I worked in China, there was just silence. Maybe some fireworks somewhere. What a nice change it was.

In Poland, December-January is also the time of kolędowanie (Christmas carol walking, as I call it), the time when Catholic priests walk from house to house to get to know their parishioners better. Now, most people don’t go to Church that often, contrary to what you might think, and don’t know their local priests at all, so it’s kind of a lottery what kind of a priest is going to pay you a visit. It’s up to you if you want to let the priest in, of course. Leaving your lights on usually means, ”Come in.” The priest is then going to bless your hourse or apartment by sprinkling it with holy water, and then talk to you for around fifteen minutes. Some priests are sensible and you can actually learn something from them, and some priests are judgmental and will ask you all sorts of personal questions. If they don’t like the answers, they won’t shy away from scolding you. In the past, they had more authority, and even today, there are areas in Poland where their opinion matters a lot, but now, overwhelmingly, if they are rude or judgmental, people just tell them to leave. Some people are more diplomatic about it than others. As the meeting with the priest concludes, there’s usually an envelope prepared – with money, of course (the main reason they come to your house, let’s be honest here).

Road rage, that’s another one. I’m sure it’s an issue in Israel as well. The key point is not driving to your house or apartment if a psycho is following you around. Let them storm off first. You don’t want them to know where you live.