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}.
…………………………………………………………………….
© 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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