Working for the Clampdown: Part 1

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The judge said five to ten, but I say double that again
I’m not working for the clampdown
No man born with a living soul
Can be working for the clampdown
Kick over the wall, cause governments to fall
How can you refuse it?
Let fury have the hour, anger can be power
D’you know that you can use it?

Clampdown – the Clash

I was listening to this song the other day & reflecting on my own varying feelings on anger throughout the years.

It might not surprise you, but I was a pretty angry teenager. I was angry at the government. I was angry at the school system at large and my school in particular, for trapping me in a very boring hell every day, Monday through Friday, 8 AM to 3 PM, nine months of the year. I was angry at the other students in my school for being either cruel, bigoted, shallow, or some unholy combination of all three. I was angry at the teachers for not doing their job, or not doing it well, or trying so hard to be one of the students that they encouraged cruelty, without stepping in to stop it. I was angry at my parents sometimes, for all kinds of perceived slights.

Hearing that phrase, that song above, it was like hearing angels singing.

“See?!,” I wanted to shout to everyone else. I had validation now! It was all right to be angry! Because anger was power!

Unsurprisingly, a few years later, I was tired of being angry all the time. It was exhausting and frustrating and it didn’t ever change anything, so why bother? I couldn’t figure out how to feel instead, because apathy has always annoyed me, but being angry all the time was just making me so damn tired. I decided, anger isn’t useful, it’s not power, it’s just draining.

Now, a few years later, I’ve come to yet a different conclusion about anger, a sort of middle ground.

Here’s the thing: anger isn’t meant to be a long-term fuel. It’s not meant to be all we run off of. It’s meant to last long enough to get us out of whatever situation is making us angry, and then dissipate.

And it’s not meant to be hoarded, either. Letting anger simmer inside you is like trying to hold on to acid so that you can throw it at someone else. You end up with all the burns.

Anger, instead, is a catalyst. It does have power because anger – righteous anger – is one of the very few things that can push people over the edge and make them take action. Do you think the Egyptian protesters were angry? You only have to watch a few videos to answer that question. But they took that anger and they used it as a tool to achieve something greater; they moved through the anger towards an end goal.

All these years after first hearing the song, that line means something completely different to me than it used to. It’s not “anger is power” it’s “anger can be power”. And then – do you know that you can use it?

I didn’t, then – I didn’t know how to use it. I do, now.