Gone in an Instant

 

Sometimes, if one is very, very lucky after losing his or her anger, there comes a moment of horror when the person realizes what they have done, realizes what might have happened.

Some time ago, I was told about such a moment by a person who is one of the lucky ones. In a moment of uncontrolled fury, without thinking, he picked up the person he was angry with and threw the person through a store window. Seeing the person lying on the ground, with pieces of the shattered glass all around, he thought that he had killed the unmoving man. The anger drained away in an instant as the horror of what he had just done washed over him. 

You can possibly imagine some of his relief when he realized the man was alive. He told me that at that moment of realization all his anger drained out of him, forever.

He was very lucky.

If we are fortunate, the realization of what our anger can do to others will, at some time, meet us head on and we will be able to let all the anger go in an instant. For most of us however, the realization isn’t as clear. Most of us have to work very hard at controlling the anger.