The Anger That Destroys

Anger is the emotion that destroys. Anger rarely produces positive results and creates unneeded stress. Stress, if not treated properly will not go away and will cause rash behavior, usually leading to the destruction of personal relationships. In the play Othello, written by William Shakespeare, Othello lets anger get the best of him. He gets more and more frustrated throughout the play, until finally, he snaps and murders his innocent wife. In the book The Picture of Dorian Gray, written by Oscar Wilde, Dorian Gray, for the duration of the book, continually gets more infuriated by his actions, that he ultimately stabs the painting causing him to commit suicide. In 8th grade, when I did not know better, I used to have anger problems. It hurt my overall performance in sports and changed how people saw me. I used to run cross-country, play baseball, hockey, and golf. Anger especially hurt my performance in golf, once you get frustrated; you tense up and stop trusting yourself. That usually ends with a bad round, and when it happens every round, I never would be satisfied. In my social life, if someone were annoying me, I would snap at him or her so quickly that they would be almost afraid of me at that moment of time. Despite all of this, I have learned that although anger is an emotion felt by everyone and is thus unavoidable, it is ultimately how you handle this emotion, which determines its affect on you.

In my personal life, I have found a way in which to channel my anger. Two summers ago I decided I wanted to try to play golf at the Collegiate level, Division III to be exact. The part of my game that ceased to get better was all in my head; it was my emotions on the course. I would always let them get the best of me. If I hit...

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...thello. If Dorian could have controlled his rage and sanity, he would have been able to live an exquisite lifestyle, while staying young for as long as he wanted.

What I value most so far in life, besides family, is the opportunity I have been given in life. If I were not presented with the chance to meet Dr. Valiante, my life would be drastically different. I do not want to go as far to say that I would be as corrupt as Othello or Dorian, but anything is possible. If Othello and Dorian both knew how to control anger using Zen, they would have lived much more pleasant and painless lives. Instead, with all of their built up tensions, things kept going from bad to worse, until they both ultimately committed suicide. If both Othello and Dorian could have seen the negative, spiraling affects of indignation, they too would have gone to Florida to meet with Dr. Valiante.