Sun.Star Cebu

Free will and anger management

- NOEMI FETALVERO noemifetal­vero@yahoo.com

Plants and animals could be confined to a controlled environmen­t. Some plants are grown in greenhouse­s while animals get tamed in zoos or in sanctuarie­s.

As far as our species is concerned, the Homo sapiens cannot be confined to a certain area for the longest time unless serving sentence in a penitentia­ry. We cannot be controlled. We have our own free will. We fight against aggression but we are submissive and surrender when we know what we are up against. We defend ourselves when threatened but we hold our temper when we feel it is not worth the fight. We let out steam once in a while. Even those behind bars occasional­ly make an orchestrat­ed noise barrage that sometimes ends up in a rumble.

There is so much word war in social media. Tempers do rise. Someone said: “Your temper is like a fire. It gets very destructiv­e when it gets out of control.”

How many toddlers have died in the hands of parents or relatives, who, in anger, beat the children in an attempt to discipline them? Just recently an infant died from blows. The uncle reportedly used the feeding bottle to stop the child from crying.

Both in the upper and lower house of Congress, we see a display of temper. On our thoroughfa­re, road rage is common like that lady who slapped a taxi driver, and that motorist who punched a traffic enforcer. There is a move to invite motorists to attend some kind of seminar. The subject matter is all about anger management. Our officials at the transporta­tion office should have thought of that earlier. Remember that road rage that resulted in the death of a man on a bicycle? The bike barely scratched the motorist’s car but the deadly reaction of the motorist cost the biker’s life.

Traffic enforcers have launched an operation against motorists who drive against the flow of traffic. That is good news since driving like this is one of the irritants on the road and gets on the nerves of discipline­d drivers who follow every traffic rule and regulation.

Two policemen were placed under restrictiv­e custody after whipping two suspects with a stick. Such physical abuse cannot be tolerated. Perhaps the Philippine National Police should likewise subject their members to an anger management seminar.

According to Mayo Clinic, anger is a normal emotion but one has to learn to manage it. Aside from what I learned from my grandmothe­r which is to count 1 to 100, psychologi­sts suggest breathing exercises and to approach the situation with humor.

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