The man prostrated himself in front of Sr Karuna. “If you had not caught my hand, I would have killed him. And I would have spent the rest of my life in jail. My children would have grown up without their father.”
This happened in a slum in Rourkela, Odisha, where Sr Karuna SSpS did wonderful work. Two men had fought. One of them took a knife and was going to stab the other man. Sr Karuna saw this, and stepped in courageously. She caught the man’s hand, and asked him not to stab the other man. She was able to prevent a death by stabbing. The furious attacker realized his mistake later, and came to thank Sister the next day.
Not everyone is lucky enough to be stopped from violent behaviour caused by anger. Some do not know what they are saying or doing when they are angry. They lose friends, get cut off from family members and neighbours—or commit despicable crimes.
Handling Emotions
We are human beings. We are neither angels, not mere animals. A part of being human is that we have feelings or emotions. We call some of them nice or positive—joy, compassion, liking, courage, etc. Others are called “negative,” because, left to themselves or expressed to excess, they do much harm. The chief negative emotions are: anger, fear, sadness and jealousy.
Making good decisions is an art we all need to master—a sure mark of maturity. It is not easy to develop sufficient wisdom for this. It takes guidance, reflection and much experience.
But if there one thing all of us need to learn when young is this: When NOT to take decisions.
Here is a one-line piece of advice:
DO NOT TAKE DECISIONS UNDER THE SWAY OF ANGER, FEAR, SADNESS OR JEALOUSY.
Such decisions are sure to be bad.
The angry man who was about to stab the other was acting like a mad man. He did not consequences or how serious the issue is, or whether there is a better way of handling the difference of opinion. Anger simply pushes him to lose control—and to grab the first weapon he finds, and kill the other.
Fr Joe Mannath SDB
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