Theos-Talk Archives (May 2002 Message tt00076)

At 08:40 PM 5/8/02 -0400, you wrote:

> > And when someone is just teasing us, a "ha ha!" may be
> > in order, but we usually can decide if we'll let others
> > push our "I'm Angry Now" button or not.
> >
> > -- Eldon
> >
>
> You've got an "I'm Angry Now" button! "ha ha"
Bill:

I'm glad to see the "ha ha," a clear sign that you're
teasing a bit.

As to the "I'm Angry Now" button, we've all got one.
It comes from being human. Usually at around two
years of age, we start learning not to use it all
the time. When things don't go right, we don't
immediately blow up and have a fit.

Some people never made it past this stage. Or
perhaps they find a socially acceptable outlet
for venting their rage, like screaming at a sports
game or rioting in the audience of a soccer game.
Others learn to count to ten before blowing up,
or in the case of mailing lists, taking a few days
of "cooling off" time before replying to something
that makes one's blood boil.

With sufficient provocation, it may be possible to
make even-tempered people burning mad. Or with
sufficient temptation and pressure, it may be possible
to make a normally honest person to do something
they know is wrong and generally try not to do
like lying or stealing.

Someone may feel inspired to test others. They
may want to see how much pressure is needed before
the others break down and do something that they
know is wrong and generally try not to do.
Such testing is not the sign of a clever mind nor
a wise teacher, it's destructive neurotic behavior
that should not be encouraged.

With some people like Chuck, it's readily clear
that he's joking. We've come to expect a certain
style of humor from him. Perhaps he'll decide to
be unpredictable sometime, and surprise us with
a different style of humor or another style of
writing.

With others, we may not know they're joking, and
take what they say the wrong way, getting seriously
upset with them. In those situations, it's best
if we moderate how we feel until learning more
about what they intended to say. And when we're
writing something funny, that we take extra care
to be skillful in making it apparent that there's
humor present in our humble words.

-- Eldon