Anger Management Notes, cont'd.

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(Didn't make it to Anger Management last week and boy does it show... Last session, the guy who's told this story two times now told it again:)

I did the time for the crime that he--

So two or three years down the line, I see the cat in the Parole Office. Now I could o' taken him outside, you know.

Instead I just said, hey, it's all good, man. I did the time, it's over, behind me.

He looked at me and gave me a hug. Now whether he continues to do what he do, that's him.

But I'm glad I saw him 'cause I can only get it off of me.

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Someone mentions how so many people BS their way through life, and the Moslem guy says:

"God never falls for it."

And I write down in careful letters, "God never falls for it."

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Pastor Ron who runs this group says:

"Continuing to be angry is like drinking poison and expecting the other guy to die." And:

"What that person is angry about may not even be about us. We are just caught in the crossfire." And:

"Before you give in to the anger, stop to think, Will this matter five hours from now?"

They all seem to agree that most things won't matter five hours from now, but I wrote in my notes, "What if it WILL still matter five hours from now, or five days, or five years?"

Ron says, "Meanwhile the other guy you're angry at has long ago moved on."

And into my head pops an image of Father Thomas Barry Horne, old and drunk, cracking dirty jokes, nasty jokes with sexual language, the priest shocked people within earshot all the way up to the day he died. And got respect 'til he died, because he wore a priest collar.

It doesn't just go away for the victims.

Best punishment for the perpetrators - all of them - would be no more respect.

They deserve no more respect at all.
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