Relinquish Your Rage and Embrace Your Sense of Righteous Justice
It's depleting to indulge in anger. It's empowering to tap into your joy!
Hello Friends,
Yesterday I read a passage in Emerald Road by
. In it, the two principle characters had just had a fight and one was giving the other the silent treatment. After a day or so, she eventually relented and said something that resonated with me.This publication is reader supported, please sponsor me if you are able. Here’s a discount code, and there are more options below!
“It's exhausting to maintain my anger.”
That's a sentiment that I've snuck up on from a variety of different directions recently. During my conversations about race with
, I've often expressed my concerns about my rage. When somebody messes with my wife or my children, I think it's natural to respond with a kind of paternal, protective anger.That's kind of what we're told we have to feel. There's pressure that in order to be a “good” parent you do not allow any kind of transgression against your children. Now, in some instances that's true. If you stumble upon a situation where somebody is physically harassing them, you need to intervene like a mama bear protecting her cubs.
But the truth is, we don't get into too many situations that warrant that elevated state of emotion.
Another truth is that elevated state of emotion is exhausting to maintain.
This is simply the reality of being a flesh and blood mortal human being. You have your mechanism of rage for extreme moments. It's part of your fight or flight instinct. When that rush of adrenaline comes, you feel good. You feel powerful. You can toss a vehicle off your child.
But you can't live like that every single day.
Once the rage expends itself, you crash. You crash hard and you go to sleep. You become despondent and incapable of activism.
Friends, that's what our enemies DEPEND ON!
They want to incite our rage, wait for us to blow ourselves out, and crash, and then they swoop in and steal everything.
They're literally stealing everything.
Now, I'm not telling you to abandon your rage. You should feel angry. The tidal wave of injustice that assails us every single day is infuriating. Anyone with a shred of moral fiber should be disgusted by what's happening.
But we can't allow our opponents to trick us into expending all our energy on a useless response.
Unless you're actually involved in a physical confrontation (and you should avoid that at all costs), you are wasting your energy if you indulge in rage.
Put aside the belief that in order to be “righteous” you have to be angry. I know that sometimes we set expectations for ourselves that are too high and too unrealistic. We want some sort of performative activism so that we feel better even if we're not accomplishing anything.
We have to move away from that.
We have to accomplish something. Furthermore, we have to learn to hold our energy in reserve so that we can expend it when it's most productive.
If you're driving around clenching your steering wheel in fury and screaming at the radio, you're wasting your power.
Instead of succumbing to rage energy, transform it into righteous energy. Transform it into rational thought.
Ever since November 5th, 2024, I've been on a tear. Those of you who subscribed to my newsletter before that date have probably noticed a change. This newsletter has transformed. Sure, prior to November 5th, I wanted to talk about writing. I wanted to empower people to share their story. I wanted to celebrate joyous stories that are overflowing with creativity.
I still want to do that.
It's just that right now, I also feel an obligation to defend our country from the advancements of tyranny. I feel a need to protect my immigrant wife and our beautiful daughters. I feel a need to protect institutions like public education. I feel a need to protect the Constitution.
I wake up every morning with a lot of rage energy. But instead of clenching my teeth and punching the walls, I sit down and start hammering my keyboard. I go on walks and record voice notes. All my rage is transformed into righteous energy. I expel my anxiety in the form of words and influence.
And this newsletter is growing.
Every now and then I hear criticisms. “Well, what are you really doing?” That comes from the rage impulse. People think that if you're not out there rioting and breaking windows you're not getting anything done—but that kind of thinking is wrong, it's illegal, and it's counter-productive.
Writing is action!
Speaking is action!
Thinking is action!
Don't fall into the trap of the misconception that you have to be perpetually angry in order to make an impact on the world. Don't be an earthquake, be erosion. Don't expel yourself all in one ridiculous burst so that you have no energy left when the fight comes.
The fight is perpetual, and in order to survive this we have to put aside our sense of furious entitlement and embrace the path of rational action. You aren't going to win every fight. That's not the point. The point is to resist, resist, resist. Be elemental! Be eternal! Be the stone planted in the road that diverts the forces of evil.
If we spend ourselves in needless anger, we take ourselves out of the game and the enemy marches right into our territory. We can't allow that.
The benefit of righteous activism is that it allows you to tap into your joy rather than your anger. Your anger is draining, your joy is replenishing. Your joy is self-perpetuating!
It sounds counter intuitive to find joy in terrifying moments like what we're living through today. But remember that we don't have to punish ourselves. You don't have to wait for life to be perfect to start celebrating the beauty of your existence.
I still have children. My children still live with me at home. I still have my wife. Every second is precious. We have to embrace and celebrate our time together because that gives us the power to work to create a better world.
If we waste all our energy on rage, we are effectively offering a surrender without resistance. Again, our opposition sees us primed for a fight, so they delay, delay, delay knowing that our readiness exhausts us.
Shift your focus to righteous justice. Our side is correct. We want prosperity for our children. We want a better life for them. We want their health and happiness. Focus on those things. Make joy your message rather than rage, and together we will become invincible!
“I'd rather Be Writing” exists because of your generous support. If you have the means please consider upgrading to a paid sponsorship. I have payment tiers starting at as little as twenty dollars a year. I'm so happy you're here, and I'm looking forward to sharing more thoughts with you tomorrow.
My CoSchedule referral link
Here’s my referral link to my preferred headline analyzer tool. If you sign up through this, it’s another way to support this newsletter (thank you).
Speak, write, read - it's about engagement, not enragement!
Great piece as always Walter. I agree there is too much anger and rage which has enough fuel coming from the carrot. There is not a day that I don't open my phone as I'm just getting ready for the day and write that his shrunken in evil rage orange face doesn't come up with something he is saying or doing. He already has set a bad example for America. I will give you a snippet of what I endured on a call. I work in Personal Loans for Discover and I love my job I am new to this Department but not new to Discover. I will be there for 3 years this summer. Anyhow a customer called in the other night to ask about their loan and I could tell by the tone in his voice he was going to be a pip. I have been taking calls for twenty years so I can tell I know that sounds weird but you can. At any rate, I had explained in a nice professional way that his app for a loan was declined. He wanted to know the reason I told him and these were the words he ended the call with I am going to put asterisks so I don't offend anyone but needless to say I was in tears and horrified for hours: "G*Y fag**t, Mfer" I think you can fill in the blanks. My mentor told me to take an extra break which I did. I was just thinking and another friend said the same thing that he probably is a carrot lover they are the only ones that would talk that way at least that is how I feel. He seems to bring the worst out in my opinion of course maybe I'm wrong but that's how I feel. Rewind to a few years back when his evil presence was sitting as president. I was taking calls at AARP then. I took a call from a gentleman who called me every homophobic awful word in the book. Again I was in tears for hours and again it was under his throne. Just saying that the rage and all is not needed we have enough with the carrot and his followers. Hope this post did not offend anyone. It was not my intention. When I think about this call I was trying to help the man but there is only so much we can tell them as we are not credit analysts you know. Thank God at Discover we have an amazing group of employees and the culture here is phenomenal they are inclusive and don't put down people based on race, sexual orientation, or anything else. I can't say that for other companies I worked at. My point is I treat customers with respect and dignity and sadly with the way things are it is not always reciprocated. Great post Walter hope you have a beautiful blessed day friend. Thank you for fighting the good fight man for everyone. :)