The cost of anger
Anger is often one of the symptoms of the distress individuals are experiencing when they make an appointment for counseling. After doing a thorough assessment of factors which may be causing or affecting the symptoms with which they are presenting I often ask: “What is the purpose of your anger? Is what way it is currently helpful?” Sometimes folks respond:
It certainly is true that many of us do not take action until we are just sick and tired of being sick and tired. Initially our anger may indeed be the motivating factor in making a decision to do what we need to do. It is also true that anger can be a way of erecting a giant STOP sign to let others know we cannot handle one more responsibility.
The next question I often ask is, “ Do you need to hold on to the anger or can you take action without it?” I might also ask, “What are your short and long term goals?”
These questions might be followed by “What is the cost of your anger in terms of health and/or dollars and cents?”
Anger may indeed have served an initial purpose in alerting us to the need to stop some self destructive or passive behavior. Holding on to anger long terms is, however, very stressful on our bodies.
Frequently, there is a very significant financial cost of our anger. This is especially evident in our so-called criminal justice system. Not only do we often spent an enormous amount of money hunting down, arresting, prosecuting and incarcerating people for long periods of time, but we spend that many times over in terms of the recidivism rate in this countries. The averages cost of incarcerating an individual per year varies from a low of approximately $7000.00 to a high of anywhere from $60,000 a year to a possible $168,000.00 a year. The recidivism rate for this very expensive system ranges from 55% to 68% depending on the year and the algorithms used.
Just this morning I was reading the local newspaper account of the sentencing of a 37 year old man to 7-25 years for operating a
“clandestine drug laboratory, conspiracy and possessing of precursors to produce methamphetamine.” I was also reading about the action of immigration officials in targeting 98 7-11 stores in 17 states and Washington, DC to identify 21 people suspected of being in the country illegally. What was the financial cost of those actions?
Often our stated motive is justice or “catching the bad people”. Our actions seldom seem to be based on long term goals of creating a more just or a safer society. We are angry that others are “getting away with” some behavior, which we may find unacceptable.
In other words punishment motivated by our anger is often our motive no matter how much we dress it up in righteous language. It does not matter whether or not evidence shows our approach creates a safer and more just society. We do not ask whether incarcerating someone for 7 to 25 years is going to benefit anyone or whether there is a cheaper, more effective alternative.
Perhaps it is time we ask the price of our anger – emotionally, spiritually, and financially. What might the price of justice without anger be?
Written January 11, 2018
Anger is often one of the symptoms of the distress individuals are experiencing when they make an appointment for counseling. After doing a thorough assessment of factors which may be causing or affecting the symptoms with which they are presenting I often ask: “What is the purpose of your anger? Is what way it is currently helpful?” Sometimes folks respond:
- My anger keeps me motivated to find a more effective way to dealing with x.
- My anger motivates me to seek justice.
- My anger lets people know that I have had it and cannot handle one more thing.
It certainly is true that many of us do not take action until we are just sick and tired of being sick and tired. Initially our anger may indeed be the motivating factor in making a decision to do what we need to do. It is also true that anger can be a way of erecting a giant STOP sign to let others know we cannot handle one more responsibility.
The next question I often ask is, “ Do you need to hold on to the anger or can you take action without it?” I might also ask, “What are your short and long term goals?”
These questions might be followed by “What is the cost of your anger in terms of health and/or dollars and cents?”
Anger may indeed have served an initial purpose in alerting us to the need to stop some self destructive or passive behavior. Holding on to anger long terms is, however, very stressful on our bodies.
Frequently, there is a very significant financial cost of our anger. This is especially evident in our so-called criminal justice system. Not only do we often spent an enormous amount of money hunting down, arresting, prosecuting and incarcerating people for long periods of time, but we spend that many times over in terms of the recidivism rate in this countries. The averages cost of incarcerating an individual per year varies from a low of approximately $7000.00 to a high of anywhere from $60,000 a year to a possible $168,000.00 a year. The recidivism rate for this very expensive system ranges from 55% to 68% depending on the year and the algorithms used.
Just this morning I was reading the local newspaper account of the sentencing of a 37 year old man to 7-25 years for operating a
“clandestine drug laboratory, conspiracy and possessing of precursors to produce methamphetamine.” I was also reading about the action of immigration officials in targeting 98 7-11 stores in 17 states and Washington, DC to identify 21 people suspected of being in the country illegally. What was the financial cost of those actions?
Often our stated motive is justice or “catching the bad people”. Our actions seldom seem to be based on long term goals of creating a more just or a safer society. We are angry that others are “getting away with” some behavior, which we may find unacceptable.
In other words punishment motivated by our anger is often our motive no matter how much we dress it up in righteous language. It does not matter whether or not evidence shows our approach creates a safer and more just society. We do not ask whether incarcerating someone for 7 to 25 years is going to benefit anyone or whether there is a cheaper, more effective alternative.
Perhaps it is time we ask the price of our anger – emotionally, spiritually, and financially. What might the price of justice without anger be?
Written January 11, 2018
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