Anger Management
by Jerry G. Gervacio
Mandaue City, June 2007

Anger is costly. In Lahug, Cebu City the cost of anger affects the poor and innocent school children.

The vindictive anger of Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña to Mary Ann Delos Santos prompt him to stop the construction of a school building in Barangay Lahug. He even vowed to starve the barangay of projects from City Hall.

Do not teach your children never to be angry; teach them how to be angry, wrote Lyman Abbott. But the kind of anger the city's father is showing to the affected schoolchildren is a bad lesson.

He who angers you conquers you, wrote Elizabeth Kenny. But in the case of the Cebu City mayor, his anger failed to conquer delos Santos. Instead, it challenges her to pursue the construction of the school building through her "Piso Mo, Eskwelahan Ko" campaign. Now, Osmeña becomes the antagonist of Osmeña-delos Santos political epic.

A Korean proverb says, if you kick a stone in anger, you'll hurt your own foot. The mayor indeed hurt his own foot. He must remember that "resentment, anger, frustration, worry, disappointment—negative emotional states, justified or not, take a toll on [his] heart, brain and body. Then, I give him my unsolicited advice: "Don't let justified emotions rob your health and well-being."

As alternative, I suggest that the "good" mayor shall watch the movie, Anger Management. If there is Anger Management Seminar, I strongly advice him to attend. For his convenience, he can surf the net. There are many tips on how to control anger and treatise on the 'anatomy' of anger.

These online articles are also recommended as a must-read for our leaders. These will help our leaders on how to process the post election anger.

As a result, our leaders can focus more on developmental concerns rather than personal matters.

Aristotle has a good observation about anger. Anybody can become angry, that is easy; but to be angry with the right person, and to the right degree, and at the right time, and for the right purpose, and in the right way, that is not within everybody's power, that is not easy.

A writer by heart and by soul. Writes poem, essay, and short story in English, Filipino, and Cebuano. Nurtured by the pristine fields of green and gold of Salug Valley.

An simple guy from Sta. Cruz, Mahayag, Zamboanga del Sur
Blog: http://gervaci0.blogspot.com