Friday, January 24, 2014

ANGRY ARGUMENTS

ANGRY ARGUMENTS


                          A saintly sage was walking with his students. He saw some people angrily shouting at each other at the top of their voice. The Guru drew the attention of the students to the fact that people are found to shout at each other when they are in anger, even when the enemy is physically quite close to them. The students gave different answers but none satisfied the teacher.
                          He finally explained that people shout when they are in anger because in that state their hearts are at a great distance from each other. Though they are near, their hearts are so distant that they have to shout to be heard. The greater the anger, the greater is the distance between their hearts and the louder will be their voice.
                          On the other hand when two people have fallen in love, they talk softly and often only whisper because they can hear each other as their hearts are close together. When their love is very intense, they may look at each other silently for any length of time, because in that intimate state, the distance between their loving hearts reduces to almost zero and they need no words for communication.
                          He advised the students to avoid angry arguments which increase the distance between the hearts, sometimes to such a great extent that a return to the former state of friendship becomes difficult or impossible.
                          Dale Carnegie, in his famous book entitled “How to win friends and influence people” says, “The best way to win an argument is to avoid it.”
                          Jesus taught us, "Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another" {John 14: 34}.”"You can be sure that on Judgement Day everyone will have to give account of every useless word he has ever spoken. Your words will be used to judge you - to declare you either innocent or guilty" {Matthew 12: 36, 37}.
                          St. Paul advises, "Do not use harmful words, but only helpful words, the kind that build up and provide what is needed, so that what you say will do good to those who hear you....Get rid of all bitterness, passion and anger. No more shouting or insults, no more hateful feelings of any sort. Instead, be kind and tender-hearted to one another, and forgive one another, as God has forgiven you through Christ" {Ephesians 4: 29-32}.
                          Let us remember that ‘ANGER’ is only one letter short of ‘DANGER’. Robert Green Ingersoll said, “Anger blows out the lamp of the mind.” Benjamin Franklin said, “Whatever is begun in anger ends in shame.”
                          Lord Buddha taught, “Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burnt.”
                          The Bible advises, “There is no excuse for unjustified anger; it can bring about your downfall. Wait and be patient, and later you will be glad you did” {Sirach 1: 22, 23}. “If you cannot control your anger, you are as helpless as a city without walls, open to attack” {Proverbs 25: 28}.



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                © By: Prof. Dr. Babu Philip, Darsana Academy, Kottayam-686001, Kerala, India ( Former Professor, Cochin University of Science & Technology, Fine Arts Avenue, Kochi-682016, Kerala, India), Prof. Mrs. Rajamma Babu, Former Professor, St. Dominic's College, Kanjirappally,  Leo. S. John, St. Antony's Public School, Anakkal, Kanjirappally and Neil John, Maniparambil, Ooriyakunnath, Kunnumbhagom, Kanjirappally, Kottayam-686507, Kerala, India.
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                         This is Story No. 294 in the second site. Please click ‘Older Posts’ at the bottom of a page to read previous stories and click 'Newer Posts' at the bottom of a page to read newer stories in these sites. Please click on a word in the 'Story Themes' to read stories on that theme.

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