Thursday, February 10, 2011

Anger, Hate and Motivation

    I was flipping through my scrapbook and I saw this. It reminded me of Yoda's famous quote:
“Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to SUFFERING!.” - Yoda
                                                          Yoda was wrong.
     I hate the word “hate”. Maybe “despise” is a better word. Hate is like a piece of burning, hot coal that you’ve been holding onto, itching to throw it at your sworn enemy, but in the end you’ll get burnt waiting for the opportune moment. Hate is self-destructive. Anger, on the other hand, can be constructive. Anger is that very primal emotion that drives those of an ambitious bent. I’m not saying that anger solely drives ambition; rather I think of anger as jet fuel to drive a plane. In this analogy, the plane represents the basic requirement for attaining a goal, i.e. the reason for doing. Have you ever had someone tell you that you are useless at something?  If you are anything like me, you’d work hard at that activity and eventually become better than the person who ridiculed you. You may find it immensely satisfying to attain such a level where you can flaunt your newly developed skill in front of that person. You’ll especially love it if the criticism hit deeply. You relish every second of it. However, you should be thankful because that person’s criticism pushed you beyond the limits you have set on yourself – perhaps out of laziness, procrastination or simply because you didn’t think it was possible. I might sound like Yoda’s nemesis, but anger can be a catalyst for a better you.

2 comments:

  1. I agree. I've made a lot of positive changes from anger. I even think hatred can be a good thing. Do we not hate that which threatens what we love? It's all about balance, not choosing one over the other.

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  2. Hate is such a strong word. I don't think people actually mean it when they say it.

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