Rx for Pickleball Rage
Prophets as anger-management coaches
To hear the related 5-minute audio file that I uploaded today as my Morning Journal flash briefing for Alexa devices, please click on the play button:
When wrong, promptly admit it
Yesterday I lost it on the pickleball court.
I took offense at a request by a club employee where we play regularly. She directed us to come to the office to register instead of just walking on to play on one of the four courts, which were all empty. I declined and told her what I thought of her interruption.
Darlene urged me to calm down, which I sort of did. And I sort of apologized for my heated response, but I did not immediately head to the office to register.
Doesn’t she know who we are?
Feelings like that continued to boil. I could barely see the ball. It took just a few minutes for me to realize I needed a re-do.
When I walked into the office, the employee told me she was worried she might lose her weekend job if people showed up to play without signing in.
“I need this job,” she told me.
At that moment, my anger disappeared. It was like a balloon pricked by a pin. The red rubber pieces floated down toward the ground, harmless.
As it happens, I learned yesterday about a self-guided online course about anger. I would have signed up immediately, but registration does not open until April 9.
The course is titled The Tears of Things: Integrating the Prophetic Path. It is based on a new book by Richard Rohr, founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque.
CAC’s description describes the course as “a journey from righteous anger at injustice, through grief for the world’s suffering, and—for those committed to the path—finally to grace-filled love for everyone and everything.”
It covers nine prophetic themes, designed for one to two hours of study each, at your own pace. The $100 fee covers CAC’s cost to create and deliver the course. In order that finances do not pose a barrier, the Center also offers reduced registration for $80 or $60.
I will pay particular attention to Theme Six, “The Role of Anger.”
“Explore the role of anger in the prophetic path with Jeremiah and Greta Thunberg. Learn how we recognize and give voice to our anger.”
Following Rohr’s suggestion, I have been highlighting passages in Isaiah in three different hues on my Kindle Colorsoft.
Red is is for passages of “threat, rage, and retribution.” Yellow is for “inner conflict and early awareness.” Green is for “‘suffered-through-to response’ (the word of God).”
With an alteration, I find one verse that applies to yesterday:
And [Pickleball] man shall be brought down, and man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be brought low.
The day I retired from the corporate world more than two decades ago, I happened to walk past a Christian Science Reading Room next to the apartment building where we lived in Denver. I saw a poster in the window that I bought and have displayed on the wall of every home office where I’ve worked since.
Below a photo of snowy mountains and tall, green trees, the poster displays a verse from Isaiah. I haven’t gotten to that verse yet in my study of the prophets. When I do, I know I will use the green highlighter:
For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. (Isaiah 55:12)