[quote]Quotation Response
By HoTh
Malcolm X said, “Usually, when people are sad, they don’t do anything. They just cry over their condition. But when people get angry, they bring about a change.” I agree, anger is sufficient fuel for change, but the change it brings about is not always good.
Change requires motivation. When was the last time you changed something significant about yourself on a pure whim? For most people, this answer is never, or at least rarely. When the change you want to make involves more people, it gets harder. We are very patterned and habitual creatures. In order for people to change, they require motivation.
Now motivation has many sources. Fear, happiness, envy, generosity, greed; many factors can motivate change, but it has to have enough impact in our lives to get over our born in patterns and habits. We can see evidence of this when Jesus scoured the moneychangers out of the temple disrupting a centuries old industry. Another example of this occurred when, Vladimir Lenin led the Bolshevik revolution, overthrowing the Tsar and upending the established order.
One of the strongest motivators is anger. How many things have you done in anger? Nothing starts a revolution like people being convinced they have been oppressed. I know for myself that anger has gotten me to make many of my decisions and changes, but there is a problem. While anger is a sufficient, and one could even say, proficient motivation for change, more rash decisions are have been made by inflamed emotions than any other source.
From deciding to smack my brother in the head, to launching a war, anger has a tendency to cloud our abilities to reason, and make wise decisions. The book of Proverbs has much to say about anger. “A quick-tempered man acts foolishly, and a man of wicked intentions is hated” (Proverbs 14:17). “A hot-tempered person stirs up conflict, but the one who is patient calms a quarrel” (Proverbs 15:8).
In our anger, we make many unwise and thoughtless decisions. I would caution against using this powerful motivator. Rash decisions are rarely beneficial. Malcolm X was right when he said, “Usually, when people are sad, they don’t do anything. They just cry over their condition. But when people get angry, they bring about a change.” I think he was right in more ways than he expected to be.
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