Anger ~ a secular midrash
There was once a person who became angry.
The anger arrived quickly, as anger often does. Someone had spoken carelessly. Someone had been unfair. Someone had failed to understand. The person felt the heat rise and thought:
“I have a right to be angry.”
And perhaps they did.
But having a right to anger did not answer the more difficult question:
What will I do with it?
So the person opened the ancient book and found The Book of Proverbs.
There they found this ancient observation (Proverbs, 15:1):
A soft answer turns away anger ~ מַֽעֲנֶה־רַּ֭ךְ יָשִׁ֣יב חֵמָ֑ה
The person did not understand this as a command to be submissive.
Instead, they understood it as an observation about human behavior.
Anger is contagious.
One angry person can recruit another.
An insult produces an insult.
A raised voice produces a raised voice.
Humiliation produces retaliation.
But the chain can be interrupted.
Simply by refusing to add more fuel.
And the person closed the book.
Proverbs reminds me that I can interrupt the spread of anger.
And so this short secular midrash ends.