溫故知新 Old wisdom, today’s insight — ONGO
Is My Anger Ever Just?
Is anger a just force against injustice, or merely a brief madness?
Anger is a brief madness.
Seneca called anger "a brief madness." The face of an angry person is no different from a madman's, and anger is a state that has dropped the reins of reason. Even where anger seems useful, he pressed, it finally burns the one who wields it — so far as to say there is no just anger. But the question split head-on. Aristotle held the opposite: to be angry "at the right things, toward the right people, in the right measure" is a virtue — for not to be angry at injustice may be the helplessness of a slave. To root anger out, or to govern it rightly? Between Seneca's eradication and Aristotle's mean, the answer still divides.
In an age when anger spreads and is spent in an instant, "is my anger just?" is thrown more often and more urgently.
After losing my temper, two minds always rise in me — one justifying, "that deserved anger," the other regretting, "did it have to go that far?" Seneca tells me to doubt the justification; Aristotle says the regret may be excessive.
📝I, Too, Stand Before It
After losing my temper, two minds always rise in me — one justifying, "that deserved anger," the other regretting, "did it have to go that far?" Seneca tells me to doubt the justification; Aristotle says the regret may be excessive. Perhaps the question is not whether I got angry but whether the anger wielded me or I wielded it. The heart that boils before injustice is precious, but swallowed by it, it turns to madness. Today, unable yet to say whether my anger was just, I stand before that question.
✍️Your Answer
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