The Upside of Anger

I think it's time to get pissed off.

I've always worked customer service jobs of some sort. These jobs demand that the majority of my daily tasks consist of dealing with angry people. So I am surprised that we, as a human population, still frown upon anger as a negative emotion. I deal with other people's pissed-offedness every single day, yet I don't think the majority of us, myself included, get angry often enough. Except Naomi Campbell.

I don't know where it comes from. My parents are calm people, yes, but they're ready to get angry when a situation calls for it. So I didn't get it from them. I've always had the bad habit of turning my rage inward, upon myself, which of course results in not-very-pretty psychoses and decidedly unhappy endings. I like to think I've learned from past mistakes, but to be honest, I'm a work in progress and you gotta crawl before you can walk.

So I still deal with the everyday anger building up inside. I wish I were one of those people like, well, Naomi Campbell, who can just throw a Blackberry at someone and feel a hell of a lot better...and get a Dunkin' Donuts commercial out of it to boot. Actually, I'd be more apt to throw the Blackberry at a wall, I'm not really into injuring others in order to exorcise my rage. But, alas, I don't own a Blackberry.

I think a worldwide anger fest would be terrific. We all just start screaming and throwing things. Damn, that would feel so good. We could get Jack "I've Played the Same Character For 40 Years" Nicholson to host it (remember his little anger episode with the baseball bat and the parked car?); Naomi could be our spokesmodel. Kenneth Anger, the avant garde film director, could sponsor it, on the basis of his appropriate name alone. So many things could change as the result of our collective anger. Imagine the catharsis. Imagine the freedom.

Now excuse me while I hurl my keyboard through the window.