Does anger ever make you cuss?

I was sitting alone the other night in my den, and was wondering what column I might write to stir your thoughts.

Now I will confess to you first; I was having a tiny libation to calm and cool my soul, and hopefully prepare me for my repose later under my bedroom ceiling fan.

And as I paused to consider a subject for this week’s column, I couldn’t help but remember one of those provoking quotes from Mark Twain.

Consider Twain’s imagination with this one:

"Under certain circumstances, urgent circumstances, desperate circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer."

Have you ever gotten angry and before even thinking, out of your mouth comes a few cuss words, and maybe some other damaging actions as well.

And often, I sometimes even remember that line from the Apostle Paul ~ "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things."

Now that sounds very good in theory, doesn’t it? But does that really happen in one’s development quickly? I really think most men are extremely slow in putting away childish things; women too!

My grandmother Gen would always remind me; "when you go to bed don’t let the sun go down on your wrath;" in other words, don’t go to sleep mad at anyone.

I have, on my journey’s path, tried to apply this principle. At times, it appears difficult to do so, but it does offer much peace and sound sleep if practiced.

Have you ever heard this one, "Long tongues and short tempers are usually mated" (Thomas Antrim).

Or how about Ben Franklin’s observation — "Anger is never without a reason, but seldom with a good one."

Sometimes life can throw us a lot of curves; we can simply react to situations by displaying anger and doing some crazy stuff, or choose a better approach.

And that’s not only pertinent to you; many others have demonstrated this same dilemma.

When one works in a prison setting as I did, the circumstances can create some very stressful situations; and often anger shows up.

Anger can also occur in many other places in our society, to include homes, marriages, jobs, down highways, schools, colleges, churches, political discussions, etc.

I can remember one particular incident, as a warden, when I had to counsel an individual at the prison because of "anger."

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I always kept a book of William Bennett’s, "The Book of Virtues," on my desk.

When the individual showed up at my office, I invited the person to be seated and we spoke about "anger" for a few minutes; and then I directed him to complete an assignment for me.

I gave him the "book" and told him to read beginning on page 37, the section on "The King and His Hawk," and we would discuss it at our next meeting.

The story is an interesting one about Genghis Khan and a hunting expedition.

May I share the story with you?

Genghis was a great warrior and hunter. On this particular day he had his favorite hawk with him and was out searching the fields and woods for some prey.

Genghis had ridden all day on his horse in search of some wild game, but found none.

He stopped and paused for a moment for a drink of water at a nearby spring. He dipped his tiny cup into the spring to fill it with water.

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"All at once there was a whirling sound in the air, and the cup was knocked from his hands."

The King looked up to see who had done this, and it was his pet hawk who had then landed nearby in the rocks.

A second time Genghis filled his cup and brought it to his lips, and the hawk swooped down once again and knocked the cup from his grasp.

The king was now very angry, drew his sword, and when the bird swooped down a third time the king cut off his favorite hawk’s head; the bird died at his master’s feet.

Genghis was "heartbroken."

As Genghis gathered his cup and climbed the rocks higher to get a drink, he noticed a "huge dead snake of the most poisonous kind."

"The hawk saved my life" he cried, and I killed him.

As he mounted his horse, he lamented;

"I have learned a sad lesson today, and that is, never to do anything in anger."

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My employee still speaks of this valuable lesson to him more than 20 years later.

Could this same tale help you one day?

Maybe.

Pete Waters is a Sharpsburg resident who writes for The Herald-Mail.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Does anger ever make you cuss?