The spiritual side of anger

Over the past year my spiritual side has been languishing.  I've been in the desert.  The God-within and I have circling each other warily for some time now without speaking.  The reasons for this I think are complicated and anyway what's more interesting to me now than how I got here is how do I react to being here and maybe even, how do I get out? 

So one of my resolutions for the new year is to address that question.  Expect more posts on spirituality.

Along those lines, here's something that's been troubling me lately.

Over the past week or so we've been having a series of unfortunate incidents involving thefts and vandalism and I am struggling with my reactions to them.  It started with the high school kids stealing my slippers out of the dryer and throwing ice in with the rest of the clothes.  Then someone came into our yard at night and stole Gil's new shoes from the front steps (we'd left them out there because he had stepped in doggie-doo).  And last night when we were again doing our laundry someone dumped a bottle of bleach into the washer.

These things happen, I know.  I do not think the stars have turned against us but I do worry about the spiritual implications of these things.  I don't like the anger that these events inspire in me.  I don't like thinking that people are mean and malicious.  I don't like worrying about how we will get the money to buy Gil a new pair of shoes (and how, unless we buy used, we'll be doubly supporting the sweatshop industry by doing so). 

I think about the person who took the shoes and of all the things, I feel least angry about this one because they took only the shoes and only the one pair.  There were a very nice pair of flipflops there also that I'd gotten Gil a few months ago.  They didn't take those.  There was a nice glass and metal piece of artwork my neice had gotten me for Christmas last year that probably would've fetched a nice sum in a pawnshop.  They didn't take that either.  They took only the shoes. Perhaps that was all they needed.  I don't feel as badly if someone else gains by my loss which is why the vandalism makes me more angry than the theft.  No one gains by throwing a bottle of bleach into a washer and ruining someone's clothes.  Even the environment loses. What's the point?  Fortunately, our clothes were more or less okay.  I don't know if this is because the bottle was empty when the person put it in there or because the washer was already on the rinse cycle and so the clothes didn't soak up the bleach.  I suppose I could focus on this part and how we're lucky we don't have to buy a whole bunch of new things today, but to tell you the truth, it's a little hard to do this.  I keep thinking that someone deliberately put the bottle of bleach into the washer and why would they do that?

This is one I just don't know how to resolve.  What do you do when you don't like how you're feeling but don't know how to change it either?

Comments

[tiny]

Laundromats are little black holes for bizarre. Bring a book, lawn chair, large stick, and a bottle of anti-gravity, and all will be fine.

[free0352]

Spent time in Columbia? You're a brave one thats for sure. I've spent some time there and in Bolivia. Like your blog.

[greensmile]

And you could certainly dwell on your superiority, moral or otherwise, to a pus hearted vandal...but that is not a good or happy or useful place to be either. Their inferiority is likewise a hollow comfort.

Would thinking about their ignorance offer a bit of hope for both you and the sort of person who gets some glee out of hurting someone they don't even know?