Choosing Peace Will Better Unite Us All
Anger is a powerful emotion and is considered one of the seven deadly sins. Throughout human history there have always been those who like to stir up anger to achieve some nefarious purpose. We have watched anger evolve throughout American society over the past few decades. Leftists like to blame Trump for stirring up anger through his tactics of insults and those on the right like to blame Obama for his arrogance of stirring up distain amongst the races and anyone who disagreed with his philosophies.
However, the anger and divisiveness in society did not begin with these two former presidents. Anger has been a part of the world throughout the history of time. Ancient writings speak of it as well as writings in all the world’s religions. Ancient stories and histories of the world’s Indigenous peoples speak of it, as well as historical writings of ancient civilizations long since passed. Indeed, anger has been a part of the world since mortal time began.
The question for civilized society is how do we, as humans living in society, deal with the anger of ourselves and others versus choosing peace? In American society today, those on both the left and the right claim to want peace, but leaders and influencers do little to promote it.
Recently, Dr. Russell Nelson, a renowned heart surgeon, told a story of when he was serving as an assistant in an operation where the patient had a severely infected leg that needed to be amputated. The lead surgeon became so angry with a team member at one point he threw his scalpel, which stuck in Dr. Nelson’s forearm. As the team looked in horror, the lead surgeon continued his tirade. Miraculously, Dr. Nelson was spared from long term injury and infection from the incident. He went on to say he learned then to always keep his emotions under control and be slow to anger. He vowed that day never to throw anything in anger, whether it be scalpels or words. A story shared by another speaker told of Dr. Nelson when, then as a lead surgeon, had a team member make a serious mistake. Keeping his cool, Dr. Nelson stabilized the patient and calmly told the team member he still loved them, jokingly saying although sometimes more than others.
Dr. Nelson went on to share some additional pearls of wisdom that the world could benefit by listening to today. He stated that he often finds himself wondering if the contaminated scalpel in his forearm was any more toxic than the venomous contention that infects our civic dialogue and personal relationships. His question is a good one, seeing that civility and decency are not often experienced in this polarizing era.
He added the faultfinding and vulgarity of politicians, entertainers, influencers, friends, and family is now commonplace and that now it is acceptable to vilify anyone who does not completely agree with a particular viewpoint. “Anger never persuades. Hostility builds no one. Contention never leads to inspired solutions,” he said.
I recently read about an experiment in which red ants and black ants were placed in a jar. They got along fine until the jar was shaken. At that point the red ants began fighting the black ants, each thinking the other was the cause of their problems. The real problem was those shaking the jar. Thus, it is in our society.
Dr. Nelson said “You have your agency to choose contention or reconciliation. I urge you to choose to be a peacemaker, now and always.” If we want to become united, I will have to agree.
Randy Gibson is the CEO of RDG Communications, LLC.
