A Space for Anger

This is a tricky one. As women, we are rarely taught that anger is a good thing, and consequently, we often push those feelings down and away, and they often rear their ugly head as depression.

Women are twice as likely to be diagnosed with depression as men.

But today, I’m feeling angry at life.

I watched a lot of the Normandy coverage yesterday, and listened in awe to the 95+ year old veterans talk about their experiences on the beaches. These humble men, matter-of-factly, told us what happened and how they survived.

We have nothing like them today. They, who were born before computers and smart phones and Twitter put us all to same.

In their presence, I am humbled.

And then I heard about Missouri and how the state is making doctors perform unnecessary pelvic exams on women before they can have an abortion (and after a 3-day waiting period). It is not medically necessary. Let me repeat that again: the pelvic exam is not medically necessary. The state is committing assault on women.

I am angry.

From storming the beaches of Normandy to pelvic exams, I feel angry that America has become what we are today.

Mean. Back-stabbing. Looking out only for ourselves. America first.

What?

What is the lesson of those soldiers who jumped and ran into harm’s way to save us all from Hitler? It seems lost on those shores, like somehow time and the tide has washed it all away.

And yet, those 9,000 white crosses remain. The remains of those brave Americans, remain.

Every time I see the pictures of those crosses, I stop in my tracks. It is really a humbling visual to know what these men did for all of us.

So I am angry today, and that is okay. I am learning to sit in that anger and not run away from it. I am honoring my feelings, recognizing them, and just letting them be. No stuffing them away.  No turning away.

No, not today.

Today, I am angry and I will sit in that anger until it transforms into something else; like a candle that sparks when first lit and then returns to a calmer state. I flicker and move, but I am here, giving off heat and light and learning the lessons of Normandy.

Call to Action: What are you angry about? Can you honor that anger and just sit with it?