Indignation. Rage. Fury. Wrath. ANGER.
I recently got into an argument with a friend of mine and, as is my nature, I became angry. Somehow he thought it was a good idea to tell me in the midst of this that anger is a useless emotion. Now, that I am looking back on the comment, and am no longer feeling anger, I’m inclined to wonder if he is correct. Is anger a useless emotion?
I think before I attempt to answer this question I should answer the question of: What anger is? Anger, as defined by Webster’s dictionary, is “a strong feeling of displeasure and usually of antagonism.” The second question that arises is: Where does anger come from? From what I know, anger comes largely from stress and frustration. As I researched I found that anger also can come from medical issues. These range from psychological issues such as bi-polar disease; to physical problems like multiple sclerosis and sprains.
I asked my friend why he thought anger was useless. The reason he gave me was because it just triggered other emotions, such as sadness and satisfaction; and that we could feel these without anger. I think that his train of thought on this is quite irrational mainly because we don’t normally choose to feel anger, it just happens. And secondly, anger may trigger other emotions, but it is an emotion in itself.
In fact, I now happen to think anger is a very useful emotion. It fuels us to want to challenge ourselves and those who oppose us, therefore raising our goals and forcing us to be our best. It inspires people to create works of art, especially music. It drives us to fight for what we believe in. The U.S. may have been under British rule today, if the colonists had not been angry and revolted. And finally, it protects us by triggering fight-or-flight. So in contrary to my friend’s belief, it seems that anger is quite useful. It is how you use it that matters.
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