Anger vs Hate
There is a drastic difference between anger and hate. By definition anger is a passing emotion of of hostility, it can be towards a person, a thing, or a situation. Yet the key phrase is passing emotion. Differing from anger is hate, which is an extended and intense dislike. For years I feared being angry because it felt too much like hate, which I still blame for 99% of the worlds problems. Yet they are drastically different when you really dive into these words, one is a feeling, the other a mentality.
I’ve realized something recently that I am incredibly driven and productive when driven by anger. Whether it’s anger at a situation, an action, a mentality, or a problem that exists in the world that shouldn’t. One example admittedly came up when watching the 2nd season for 13 Reasons Why. I know there are differing opinions about the show, but let’s set those aside for the minute and admit that it addresses some real situations that happen every day, in and out of our education system.
I makes me so angry that abuse of power is so prevalent in our society that we give it to all the wrong people. We glorify the all-american’s who have no idea how to handle that power and suddenly believe they can walk on water with no regard to others. This leaves everyone else living in a state of fear, fearing that they will either be abused or simply ignored. Yet I find I don’t hate these people. Sure I feel intense anger and am dedicated to stopping their actions and putting an end to this abuse of power. Yet ultimately I feel sorry for them as people, because they are obviously insecure and are lashing out from something lacking in their own lives. They are seizing control in their lives using the power that was simply handed to them.
This doesn’t excuse their behavior, but it’s helpful to recognize that we can be angry at their behavior without hating them as people. We are no better than them if we turn anger into hate, then you just have two groups of people hating each other and not listening, understanding, and attempting to make things better. This is exactly why I attempted to squash my anger for years. I didn’t want to become part of the problem, and so I became passive, just wishing everyone would get along. The problem is without someone driving thing’s forward, the hate existing in the world will do it for us.
Even Mahatma Gandhi refused the idea that he was passive. He simply chose his battles and did not allow his decisions to be driven by hate. I doubt he would have even admitted that he was not angry at his oppressors and the situations he was forced into. Yet he did not allow that anger to turn into hate. He recognized that his opponents were simply humans doing the best they knew how in their own reality. This is how some of his biggest enemies turned into his biggest supporters. Because he didn’t treat them as enemies, he turned his anger towards fixing the situation, instead of crushing the people responsible for it.
When we act out of hate we are simply reinforcing our ‘enemies’ view of us. Instead, if we talk to them as humans and recognize that we are both angry at the situation, that is where progress will be made. Of course there will be disagreements, and compromises must be made to establish peace. Yet if both of us are able to admit we don’t hate each other, but we are angry at the way the other makes us feel, we can use that anger to make the situation better, if not perfect.
We can and should allow anger to drive us, but we must recognize when it starts to turn to hate. Anger is a passing emotion that will allow us to release it once progress is made in the right direction. While hate will force us to continue down a path that will make everyone’s lives more miserable. Fuel your anger for progress, and snuff out your hate with a blanket. This is how we become better humans and create a better world.
