But first we must recognize that there are good forms of anger. For example, if I saw someone harming one of my children, I would feel anger, and rightly so. On a much grander scale, Martin Luther King's speeches and sermons denouncing racial injustice were forceful because of the passionate and righteous anger he possessed and expressed. When good, anger is motivated by justice. At its root, righteous anger is motivated by love for others and a desire for their well-being, for things to be set right. It can also be motivated by a proper form self-love.

However, most of the anger we know about by observation and personal experience is different. It is a vice--sometimes a deadly vice--that is motivated by selfishness. The angry person must have things go his way, regardless of the needs and claims of others.  And if they don't, then watch out. So, anger in its vicious form is an expression of selfishness. But it is not only the target of anger, so to speak, that can make it vicious. The expression can also reveal the vice of anger. When our status, honor, or something that we value is threatened and we respond in disproportionate or extreme ways, this vice is revealed. Those who fly off the handle at the slightest provocation go wrong with respect to the form of anger they possess and express. We can go wrong both in what we are angy about and in how we are angry.

One of the difficult things about anger is that it can cloud our judgment. Our reason can be overcome by anger, such that we think we're motivated by justice when in fact something less noble is our true motive.  Given this, what can we do about it? What are some antidotes for anger?

First, it could be helpful to keep a journal for a week or two, recording in it the times we're angy and what it was that we were angry about in each case. In each instance, record the level of the intensity of anger on a scale of 1-5. After doing this, put the journal away for a week or so. Then, come back to it and examine it. What patterns emerge? In hindsight, were there times when we were angry about something that we shouldn't have been angry about? Were we too angry, even if for good cause? Doing this might help us to see what tends to make us angry, so that we can be better prepared for such situations. It may also help us to see that some of our concerns are petty and even selfish.

Second, anger is not merely a state of mind, but of the body as well. Sometimes we simply need more and better rest, refreshing relaxation, good nutrition, and exercise to counteract our anger and its consequent irritability.

Finally,  a sense of humor about ourselves and the world around us can be helpful. If we are able to see our anger, and with a sense of humor dismiss it, its power in our lives can be undermined.

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