Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 244, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 October 1916 — BE SLOW TO ANGER [ARTICLE]

BE SLOW TO ANGER

Righteous Indignation Justified, but Resentment of Injury Serves Little Purpose. “ITe is forbearing and of abundant* mercy,”—Exodus 35, 6, Forbear, forgive, forget Three little words thut help to build great happiness. Three little words that mean great victory. Three little words that prove us worthy of great privilege. The gr«*at happiness which these Simple words build is the happiness of pence. The victory they mean is victory over one’s self. And the great privilege which they gain for us Is the privilege of being through our conduct adjudged worthy sons and daughters of the Heavenly Father of us all.’ Hen anger us. We are human and therefore we resent. But every time we resent we lower ourselves to the level of him who offends us; we lose our own self-respect, which Is a valuable asset; we raise the offender to the opinion that he is worth noticing. W’hleh he may desire but which we are frequently unwilling to concede; we provoke by our act or word of resentment future or further offense, which will only mean more anger or resentment on our part; we fail to convince the offender that he has wronged us, and our failure to do so means possibly our mortification and certainly a loss of our nervous energy wasted upon one who Is not worthy of the expenditure. Like most human emotions, anger or resentment can be holy or unholy. It is holy when directed against wrong that perils life In serious directions. For such wrong may mean grave consequences. Righteous Anger Justified. There is such a thing as righteous anger. Witness the anger which directed the extermination of the Canaanite nations so persistently guilty of the grossest immoralities, which, under the guise of worship, meant man’s physical, mental and moral deterioration and death. But we speak of ordinary life as we ordinary human beings live it. We are too often angry and resentful unnecessarily and unrighteously. We are too quick to take offense. We resent angrily when a “soft answer” would “turn uskle the wrath,” and we thereby demonstrate that “anger resteth In the bosom of fools,” among whom there Is no need for us to be numbered. It all means our annoyance. Any annoyance, even when caused by a pin-prick, means a disturbance of our happiness. If we can overcome our pride, conquer our anger, subdue our resentment, it means that we gain a great victory over the less worthy self and that the more worthy self, the “better self” within us, is mightier. That will mean our peace of mind and therefore our happiness. After all, no man is infallible. And we are only men. Offense Is oft the child of our own fault —or folly. He Is a wise man that recognizes when he is foolish. He’s a wise man that applies to himself Job’s satire, “Wisdom will die with you!” and give credit to his offender for at least a little wisdom and possibly more right! Forbear, forgive and forget. Who has not felt all the better for doing so? Forbearance Always Well. And it is Just by forbearing, forgiving and forgetting that we prove ourselves worthy of high privilege, worthy of our privilege of being sons and daughters of the good father of all of us. For he is forbearing and forgiving and graciously forgets. If he finds that our faults, whereby we offend him, are just human weaknesses that we honestly try to correct; if he finds’ that we are sincerely trying for a “change of heart," he will forbear, forgive and forget. He only desires that we shall return to the right way. He takes no delight in punishing or inflicting penalty. “In our sorrows lie sorrows,” as the prophet teaches us * „ 4*Let us therefore try to lead those who offend us to a change of heart. Let us try to correct the causes of their offending ns. We can do so by tactful response, by soft answer, Instead of by angry word, or by angry tone, which is even worse! ~~ It Is only when troth, righteousness and honor are involved that our anger becomes righteous anger and- our resentment becomes excusable.