Angry people

I was talking to my good friend Michael this weekend and I commented to him that a lot of my friends seem to be angry.

Not angry at me.

But angry.

Leave it to Michael to come up with incredible insight into human nature.

"Oh a LOT of people have inner anger issues," he said.

Wow, "really?" I replied.

I never realized it before.

I thought it was just me....

But it makes sense.

We come into this world full of joy and life comes at us, sometimes changing our wholesome and pure and optimistic view. It can turn some of us bitter and angry. Many of us in fact.

What causes us to go from happy-go-lucky to bitter and angry?

Maybe over a failed relationship. Or two. Or twenty.

Maybe because we weren't born into a wealthy family so we have to bust our ass every day just to feed ourselves and put a roof over our head. Some people have an odd chip on their shoulder about that.

Maybe because we had a bad experience with a boss or co-worker.

Maybe a business deal went south.

Or someone in business stole from us. Or lied to us. Or otherwise treated us badly.

Maybe we we were laid off or fired from a job through no fault of our own.

Maybe we hate our job.

Maybe it's just part of some people's personalities to be angry.

But as I thought about it, I was just amazed at how true Michael's statement is.

And you know the worst part? A lot of these friends of mine may not even realize they are bitter or angry!

I know I haven't been "myself" the past couple years. And I know what that was. I had a horrible experience with a band I represented. I worked my ass off for them and at the end of it all, they screwed me over. So much for rewarding those that help you out and sacrifice life and limb for you.

Still, it does NO good to hang onto this bitterness and anger. Yet, letting is go is a real process. One that can take weeks. Or months. Or in my case, years. And I'm still not 100% there yet. It's a bit like your spouse or boyfriend/girlfriend cheating on you - and for no good reason. You were the perfect spouse or boyfriend/girlfriend yet something bad still happened to you. It's a hard lesson to learn that in life, you can be a GOOD person and do everything right and still get hurt by someone. It makes no sense. I guess that is just life and part of life's lessons.

But, you know, as much as I know some of that bitterness and anger in me may never go away, I know that karma takes care of good people and bad people and "what goes around" truly DOES come around.

Somewhere I read that anyone that is angry is covering up for hurt. And I think, if you look closely at anyone in your life that is bitter or angry, that is often the case.

I wish more people were self-aware. Aware that their negative attitude turns people off.

I know changing yourself can be a difficult, if not impossible task.

At least listen to what you say when you're with your friends -- and if you find yourself complaining about things more often than not, you can at least begin the process to heal.