What do you do with the mad that you feel?
- What do you do with the mad that you feel
When you feel so mad you could bite?
When the whole wide world seems oh, so wrong...
And nothing you do seems very right?
What do you do? Do you punch a bag?
Do you pound some clay or some dough?
Do you round up friends for a game of tag?
Or see how fast you go?
It's great to be able to stop
When you've planned a thing that's wrong,
And be able to do something else instead
And think this song:
I can stop when I want to
Can stop when I wish.
I can stop, stop, stop any time.
And what a good feeling to feel like this
And know that the feeling is really mine.
Know that there's something deep inside
That helps us become what we can.
For a girl can be someday a woman
And a boy can be someday a man.
Mr Rogers recited this poem to Congress during one of humanity's finer moments - this is one of my favourite videos on Youtube, ever. A true American hero. This video makes me tear up every single time I watch it.
It's hard for me to keep a dry eye while watching that video as well. It is definitely where I sourced the poem.
I try to mentally acknowledge it and use logic and reason to see how flawed and counterproductive my anger is. That helps me set it aside.
In all honesty, to hijack the post, First Person Shooters. An hour of Team Fortress 2 or Guild Wars and all my anger aggression and hostility is done and gone. Everyone gets angry. Everyone needs an outlet that gives you a way to vent frustration and anger that will let you refocus and find your calm center. And this is normal. Repressing anger, sorrow, joy, any emotion leads to poor behavior. I think that it is important to teach people that emotions are not... is bad the word I'm looking for here? We all get sad, angry, happy, etc. It is how we deal with those emotions and how we deal with the world outside of our control that matters. You also cannot control other people; you use your character and virtues to define your reaction to them instead. By reacting this way you set an example for others to follow and hopefully they treat you the same way you treat them.
Great poem from a great man. I love it - and I need to keep it in mind more often...