Are you just angry at the world because you think it's out to get you? Well, tough. Suck it up and move on. Lately, I'm finding myself angry at people who are angry. 9 times out of 10, the things that people are angry about doesn't amount for shit. I want them to go through their day and list everything that made them angry that day and they get to keep 3 of the items. The other 60 items I want them to crumple up in a ball and shove it up their a-hole. Now that's me being angry!!
Being angry is a creation you make because you feel like you've lost. Now this can range from something very minimal to drastic. The problem we find ourselves in is that we give the same amount of anger to the small shit as we do the big stuff. Here's what I get mad at: 1) People who can't use their turn signals. Nothing that's going to end the world, but I feel like I deserve the respect to be told where you're going so I don't kill myself or others. 2) People who don't respect their personal space and the personal space of others around them. I feel like I deserve some place in my planet where I don't have to hear anyone, listen to their cell phone conversations, be yelled at by drunken fools, or run into because someone is clumsy. 3) Angry people. Did you just lose your job? BE angry. Do you feel that no matter what you do, things don't fall in place for you? Be sort of angry. Do you feel that things should just be handed to you and you shouldn't have to work hard at getting them? Go fuck yourself.
What's wrong with my list? None of that matters in the larger scale of life!!!
Life is hard. If you don't believe that, write a book and I'll buy it and you can explain to me how it's not. Life doesn't owe you jack shit. If you think otherwise, again, write a book. Life isn't fair. Nope. Not one person I know has had all their expectations filled every single day. But guess what?????? We have choices! If you don't like something, suck it up, change it, or get out of the situation. You know what we do? We pout and bitch about it. NOW TELL ME ONE DAMN THING DOING THAT HELPS IN ANYWAY!!!!! I'm so tired of living in a society where more people stand on the sidelines and tell people how the game should be played instead of getting in the game and changing their outcome. THEIR outcome. Everyone is so worried about everyone else, and that person can think if they have everyone else thinking like they do, life will be better. Too bad suckers. Doesn't work that way.
Then there are people who just like to bitch about everything which fires me up even more because what are we supposed to do with that information? How can me knowing everything that frustrates you about a certain situation, move us forward if you don't intend to do anything but hope it gets magically fixed? Then that person walks around or drives around full of anger and that only has one outcome, its going to negatively affect someone else. Anger and pessimism are a poison. It's like the flu for happiness. A negative person is only happy if everyone else around them is sad and empathizes with the negativity. In truth, no one cares if someone is angry and tries to stay away from it, but it just sucks them in because that's what the catalyst wants.
This is how it relates to acting: When you get angry on stage, you've lost. You resort to screaming and ignoring people and make the decision to let your scene partner move the scene forward because you're not going to achieve anything just standing there and screaming. How in the hell can I not relate that to life? How can you move your life forward if you're angry? What can you change in someone else by bitching about stuff all the time and fuming? No one wants to listen to a mean person. Mean people suck. I've read that slogan!
We wake up everyday with the potential to achieve something. We are the only ones standing in the way. Lots of people will make you a list of every single person, event, and food that prohibits them from reaching their highest potential. Fuck you and your list. THE ONLY THING THAT STANDS IN THE WAY OF BEING HAPPY IS YOU. There a trillion choices you can make every single day that will make the day worth it, but we let 2 or 3 ridiculous things bring us down and let it ruin the rest of our day. That is our own choice, no one else. That is why I'm letting you have those 2 or 3 things that can make you angry. Anger is a genuine feeling. We can get very angry at things. But what if you die tomorrow? Do you really want the last day on earth being spent bitching about something that you had no control over anyway? That isn't the end of the world? That if you make another choice you could have avoided? That you assume you gave everything you had, but really you gave 30%? That instead of pouting for 30 minutes, you could have done something active for those 30 minutes that would have erased those feelings?
What I'm laughing about now is that I wonder how many people read this and the first thing they say is "Is he specifically talking about me?" Well, I'm talking about everyone. If you think it's about you, it's probably a suggestion of yourself made by yourself that could be looked into. I see it mostly at stores, restaurants, and on the road. We let stupid people ruin our days. Of course I have hundreds of friends in theater who bitch daily about the business and this show and that show and that director and that actor and this costume....really? I do it too, but instead of sitting around pouting, I'm doing something about it. I'm writing. Trying to educate. Trying to hold a mirror up to someone. Trying to maybe give someone the knowledge to not let something silly ruin their entire day because grand things can be accomplished when you strive for excellence. Grand things can not be accomplished when you put everyone down.
All of these thoughts stem from a call I placed yesterday to the cable company yesterday. The guy was from NY and we were putting things in place and just chatting about the city and teams and everything else while he was typing. He mentioned that he liked calls from me because he usually just deals with people yelling and threatening him. As an actor, I instantly wondered what the customer's tactic was. How do you get what you want by making someone feel worthless? The smaller they can make the other person feel, the more powerful they can feel themselves. That's just basic psychology. You have personality issues if you need to feel more powerful than someone. If that's what you need to do, you need to deal with those bigger issues and not the man who's putting cable in your apartment.
Eat, drink, and be merry. For tomorrow we die.
