What Do You Do with the Mad You Feel?
by Fred Rogers
What do you do with the mad that you feel
When you feel so mad you could bite?
When the whole wide world seems oh, so wrong...
And nothing you do seems very right?
It's so easy to feel angry.
About the treatment of people who live on the margins
About unchecked praise heaped on flawed and sometimes harmful leaders
About manipulative behavior that causes so much harm
About the way that person in front of you just cut you off.
About so many things.
I remember the Mister Rogers song from when I was a child. It still brings a place of safety and peace today.
What do I do with the mad I feel?
Sometimes I write.
Sometimes I play guitar.
Sometimes I sing.
Sometimes I yell.
Sometimes I cry.
And sometimes I send out a string of profanity that even makes me blush.
Under certain circumstances, urgent circumstances, desperate circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer. - Mark Twain
None of the things make everything better, but each of those things helps me get to a place where I can begin to process the things I'm so angry about and maybe find a way toward healing.
What do you do with the mad you feel?
Rev. Kirk Moore (he, him, his)
Kirk Moore (he, him, his) is a guitarist, vocalist, and a certified music practitioner, (CMP). He’s also the pastor of St. Paul’s United Church of Christ in Downers Grove, IL and a member of the executive board of the UCC Mental health Network. Find out more about therapeutic music here.
