Anger and pride

Anger and pride

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1993 6 June 16 Anger and pride (235)

The Prophet Yahya (John the Baptist) once said that anger stemmed from pride. Asked how this was, he replied: “Behold you not that people who become angry do so with those who are below them in rank; they do not become angry with those who are superior to them.”

It is true to say that anger always stems from a proud mentality. Were people to become humble, they would cease to become angry.

This does not mean that humble people never become angry. Indeed they do. But their anger is short-lived. After briefly manifesting itself, it disappears without trace.

Anger which comes from pride, however, does not end until its perpetrator has humiliated the object of his anger. In his arrogance, he loses his temper with anyone who does not go along with the inflated opinion he has of himself. Any such person becomes a target for the anger and vengeance that is expressed in everything he says, everything he does. Nothing will divert him from attacking his ‘detractors’ until he has once again established his own feeling of superiority.

Yet all this anger, all this vengeance, is only exercised against subordinates. He does not give vent to such feelings before superiors; with those above him, he is a picture of calm and composure. Yes, all too often anger stems from pride, and such anger represents the lowest point to which a man can stoop.