SubscribeMoving beyond anger to do good
“Are you angry, bitter, ticked off?” the CNN commentator asked Shirley Sherrod, who yesterday said no to a job offer from the man who fired her weeks ago.
Sherrod, as you may recall, is the former Agriculture Department official from Georgia who was summarily dismissed by the big boss at the USDA when a conservative blogger posted an edited video that made her appear to be bigoted against a white farmer.
Her life has been a roller coaster since the story broke in July. Along with being fired from her job, she was repudiated by the NAACP and vilified in the press before the truth came out. Apologies followed but the sting remains. However, is this black woman angry, bitter or ticked off? She says no and therein for me lies something else in her story, which I blogged about earlier, to consider.
Sherrod, who looked and sounded weary yesterday, said in the CNN interview that the events of the last few weeks made it difficult for her to accept another position at the Agriculture Department right now.
To the question of being angry, she answered:
“You know, I can’t even get angry. I wish I were an individual who could get angry and stay angry for a while. I guess if I could. you would have seen a different Shirley Sherrod throughout this.
But I can’t be angry. If you’re angry, you can’t think straight. You can’t move forward. You’re stuck at a point. I’m at the point where I think we need to move on and make some of the good changes we need to make for this country. You cannot do it, if you are angry.”
Sherrod’s comment struck me when I heard them. Anger has undone many a good women and has led to strained or severed relationships. Some of us, even those of us in the church, carry anger for years over what someone has done to us. Just recently, I heard a friend talk about an incident that occurred more than a decade ago that still had her seething. She has not been able to let go of the anger and seemed to take some righteous comfort in holding on it. In the meanwhile, relationships with family members suffer because of it.
When we harbor anger in our hearts against someone who has offended us, we cannot have real peace in our lives. Whenever we see that person, the anger once again burns fresh within us. Our anger spills over to others and impacts our faith walk. (There is a righteous anger that we are expected to have when we see gross injustices taking place in the world, but that’s not what I am talking about here.)
Letting go of anger before it takes control of us, or hardens a part of our heart, is one of the most liberating things we can do. I know. Anger was my companion for many years before, with God’s help, I did something about the damage it was doing to my spirit and my relationships. I learned to forgive myself and the person who angered me, and to ask for forgiveness when I am the one causing harm. And I make every effort to not let anger smother too long.
My guidebook for daily living tells me several things about dealing with anger that I try to adopt when situations occur that could cause me to become angry.
- Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to get angry.” (James 1:19)
- Don’t sin by letting anger control you. (Ephesians 4:26)
- Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry. (Ephesians 4: 26)
- Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, slander… and love and forgive as God has forgiven you. (Ephesians 4: 31)
The Bible tells us that human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. (James 1:20) Maybe Sherrod knows that. She is able to move forward with her mind set on accomplishing good.
What about you? Are you still angry over something someone did to you? What step can you take today to move beyond the anger toward peace?
Related posts:
