Anger
"Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous." and "Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools."
-- Prov. 27:4 and Ecc. 7:9
A recent news item tells of a man who became so violently angry with his neighbour that he temporarily lost his mind, and before he could recover himself, ended his life by shooting himself with a rifle. It was over a very trivial matter that he became so enraged, because his neighbour drove a tractor over a water pipe in his yard and crushed it.
Another news item tells of another man who, in a fit of temper, shot and killed his neighbour, for no more serious offence than taking a few apples from one of his apple trees.
Both of these men were wealthy farmers, owning many acres of land. They both started out as poor men. For years they had worked hard, economised and saved, until they had enough accumulated to take life easy and enjoy themselves. But in a moment of heated passion the satisfaction and joy they might have had out of their accumulations were thrown away. "He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly", says Solomon. It was more than a foolish thing these men were driven to do by their anger, it was a tragic thing.
The tragic deeds of these men, as I said, were committed "in a moment of heated passion." But back of that awful and fateful moment were years of uncontrolled temper. These men were given to outbursts of anger upon the slightest provocation. This weakness might have been easily overcome in earlier years, but doubtless they made little effort to do so.
Anger is a dangerous passion. Solomon calls it cruel and outrageous. "Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry," he warns. The man who has not learned to hold his anger in check, is never safe against himself; nor are his neighbours safe against him.
