I have become suspicious
of my own righteous indignation
“Between stimulus and response, there is a space.”
~Viktor Frankl
I have become suspicious of my own righteous indignation.
Not that righteous anger doesn’t have its place. Not that there aren’t multitudinous things worth being angry about right now. But when I feel it in reaction to something someone in my camp shares about someone from another camp…
When I begin composing an eloquent, persuasive tweet / essay / letter to the editor in my head about how wrong they are, with passion, logic, and maybe some red-letter Bible verses thrown in…
And I see that everyone else I follow is composing the same tweets / essays / letters to the editor, with the same brilliance and fervor…
I have started to think that maybe I am playing a part assigned to me, without really any benefit to anyone except to make other people who agree with me also feel that righteous indignation.
And, God, I am so tired of all these Shibboleths.
I’m not saying I don’t agree with the people I agree with. But it has started to feel like we are all actors in someone else’s play.
And so I ask myself again: Who benefits from all my righteous indignation? And what would happen if I took a deep breath and let it pass by? What would come up after that feeling has passed?
That’s where I am now. Waiting. Observing. So far, the answer is just exhaustion.
I want to stand up for what I believe in. But why do I get the feeling that we are being pushed into the arena to fight each other for someone else’s amusement and our own distraction?
I have become suspicious of my own righteous indignation. And I wonder what else might help me be more effective at seeking truth, and loving others, and making this whole place less brutal for all of us.
Yours in hope,
Jessica
Thanks for reading! This post is public so feel free to share it.