Be Angry, in a Smart Way

We need it more than ever these days. Gandhi had it. Martin Luther

King embodied it. So did Nelson Mandela. And the Dalai Lama

encourages us all to apply it: constructive anger.

A well-guided anger, the Dalai Lama says, can be useful. Moral outrage

can drive positive action.

The global reaction against the outrageous deaths at the hands of police

left me upset, like millions of other people. And the demonstrations

that have followed will, I hope, lead to the needed reforms. But when

anger turned to violence, arson, and looting, I was upset, too.

That’s when the words of the Dalai Lama made real sense to me.

For his 80th birthday I had written A force for Good: The Dalai Lama’s Vision

for Our World, and what he said then made total sense to me today.

When we are outraged by an injustice, he says, marshal the “gifts” of

anger: a strong focus, extra energy, and determination. All these can

make our response to that injustice more effective. If we can analyze

the situation clearly we are more likely to take the most effective action

– to “hit the target directly,” as he says.

But anger becomes destructive when we lose self-control, get too

agitated to think clearly and are obsessed rather than focused. In that

state we can easily act in ways that will lead us away from our real goal.

On the other hand, we can’t be so tolerant that we let someone harm

us or someone else. We may need to take strong action to protect

against a real threat – but not with anger or hatred.

In his words, “Keep a calm mind, study the situation, then take a

countermeasure. If you let a wrongdoing happen, it might continue and

increase, so, out of compassion, take appropriate countermeasures…if

you have the ability you must stop the wrongdoing.”

And, he further advises, separate the actor from the action. The trick

here is to keep compassion toward the person even as you act

forcefully to stop them.

Oppose the act, he urges, but love the person.

Makes good sense to me: emotional intelligence.

For more of what the Dalai Lama says about social injustice and

compassionate action, see Chapter Five of Force For Good: The Dalai

Lama’s Vision for Our World.