One psychologist made the statement that most of the perpetrators of these horrible crimes are not truly mentally ill. They are ANGRY, excessively and over the top, but they are ANGRY. Anger in and of itself is not a mental health problem, nor is it always inappropriate. Anger is an emotion that motivates us to strive to correct injustice, both great social injustices and individual grievances. The non-violent expression of anger by people like Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. did a great deal of good for the world.
The individuals that have gone on violent, gun shooting rampages are extreme examples of anger gone rampant. I would suggest though that rather than isolating them from ourselves we look in the mirror and recognize that they are ourselves, even though the great majority of us will never go to their extremes.
Our political and even religious discourse lately is filled with venomous anger. It is one thing to disagree with a politician or a theologian or the guy next door, or even to be angry if we believe that their position is wrong and harmful to others, but when the discussion spills over into vulgar name calling and wishing evil upon others we have a problem.
Another aspect of our cultural anger problem is seen in our reaction to some of the more heinous crimes that get committed, be that pedophilia, mass shootings, rape and abuse, etc. There is no doubt that the perpetrators of such crimes as well as the people that cover for them belong behind bars, but I look on social media and find people wishing them to be tortured and humiliated. To me this is just self-righteous posturing and a way of saying, "I may be bad, but not as bad as those people."
The perpetrators of these violent shootings are not totally distinct from the rest of us. They are rather at the top end of a spectrum which envelopes us all.
We Catholics, along with many other Christians, are in the season of Lent, a season of self-examination and repentance. Perhaps a good Lenten practice would be to look into our own hearts and ask the Good Lord to heal us of all of the pent up anger that comes out in things like road rage, angry ranting, etc. I mentioned above that healthy anger helps us correct injustice. Much anger does not get resolved and we are left with a residue of unresolved anger, a residue that began building up when we were mere children. Much of it was justified in the beginning, but now it is a poison, a spiritual poison that does no harm to those who hurt us originally, but only harms ourselves.
A number of years ago I realized that this Franciscan priest had way too much anger. The mere mention of certain teachers, people from my childhood and folks from the early days of my religious life would make my blood boil. Instead of stuffing this anger back down I started the practice of praying for the person who angered me and asking the Lord to take that anger away. It's a slow process and I still have some things to work on, but I am a much more peaceful man today than I was just a few years ago.
Perhaps such a process is needed for all of us, even those with no religious beliefs, if we are to heal the ills of our society. Yes, laws must change on several levels but without changing our hearts nothing will really change.
While I have no illusions that this is the ultimate insight into everything I believe it is worthwhile for all to discuss. I wouldn't mind of this post went viral.
