Will Anger Lead to Action?

I was traveling this past week and I was in Austin, TX for a conference when the election results were published very early Wednesday morning. As I was walking to the conference event that morning, a cyclist whom was coming towards me and I let pass before crossing the road yelled at me "Get out of my way you bitch" (left the word in for emphasis - not a word I have ever been called). Later that night, I was walking to one of the events for this conference (the Tableau conference has 13,000 attendees so it is huge) and I got swept up in a protest by students from University of Texas at Austin. One of the video clips I took is below.

This type of anger is usually bred by frustration. When we get frustrated, we get angry and that is the definite sense I got from this protest. Judge for yourself. Anger out of frustration is rarely a good anger. Even the civil rights protests of the sixties was fueled by productive action (boycotts etc.). Not all anger is bad. Injustice should make us angry and anger then should lead to action. In this case, it is hard to label it an injustice since our election laws go back hundreds of years and are designed to prevent populous areas from dominating our vast country. Nobody is contesting the fairness of the election. There is nothing that will change. It really is just venting. Consider the protests in Portland which turned into a riot with windows being smashed and local businesses damaged. I had a coworker friend who would say to me when I would vent - "Dan, what would you want me to do". What matches anger is the ability to translate that anger to passion and passion to action.

I love a hot shower. I am told that water at 98 or 99 degrees centigrade is pleasant. But at 100 degrees centigrade, water boils and it is very unpleasant to take a scalding shower. Our country needs to move back from scalding to hot and we need to channel the 50% of us that are upset in a positive direction. I pray that happens.

2016 Election - Is This the End of Civility?

A friend of my wife recently commented to her that she prayed before voting early this year and then after casting her vote, she just cried. Such is the state of this election year. This election has separated co-workers, friends, and families. It has even impacted our own family.

I love our freedom in our country to vote. And I appreciate that we have the ability to say what is on our mind about who we vote for. However, I look at it and say I am an ambassador of Jesus Christ and as such it is not remotely worth it for me to cloud my Savior with who I want as President. The two are not tied in any way whatsoever. So why would I want to risk confusion of one vs. the other. So I don't put politics on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. I won't even tell you who I am voting for. I will cast my vote, but in a few weeks I will support whoever wins the election because that is what I am supposed to do (Romans 13).

There is an aspect of this election that is even more troubling however. As cantankerous as previous elections have been, this one rises to a much higher level. I cannot remember EVER this level of personal attacks. John Kasich vowed to stay positive and it probably cost him. Barbs, jabs, and personal attacks seem to be the mode of our Reality TV era. Does this trouble you like it does me? James the writer says we are to be "Quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger, for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God". It seems to me the evidence of a society that is slowly unraveling. Moving to Canada is probably not the answer. But being a change agent of casting aside bitterness and rancor probably is. I pray our country moves past this point and embraces the kind of common good we had in the days immediately after 911.