CAUSE AND CURE FOR ANGER

This is a True Story

Riding in the Rumble Seat

 

The cause for anger is readily understood but the cure is another issue

The year was 1935 and it was my first recollection of my aunt. She came to be with my mother who was pregnant with my brother.

During her stay for a year we became good friends and did many things together and she was my favorite aunt.  I had just started the first grade and having her there was a help to me since my mother had slowed down due to her condition.

During this time a young man became interested in her and wanted to date her. After some time she finally gave in and said she would go with him on one condition. He was so agog upon hearing that he would agree to anything.

The condition was she wanted to take me along on their date. That was the one thing he didn’t see coming but had no choice but to agree. I became a middle man and on every date I went along and was always in the middle whether it was the movies or out to eat.

This went on until she felt it was time to return to her home in another state. During the courtship he concluded that they were engaged to be married. Time passed and my mother wanted to go and visit her parents and siblings. So we all loaded up including the man who thought he was going to marry my aunt and we headed to the old home place.

When we arrived the man was the first one out and was on the hunt for my aunt. At this point she had no intention of marrying him but he persevered and after several days he finally got her to agree to be married to him.

My father decided to take them to the Justice of the Peace to be married, so we loaded up just as we were dressed and were off. The car we were in was a coupe with a rumble seat. There wasn’t much room in the rumble seat but the three of us managed to get in it.

As usual I was sitting in the middle and the Justice came out to greet us. My father said the one’s in the rumble seat want to get married. He said just sit where you are and we’ll do it right there. A couple minutes later they were married and that was the end of my job as a chaperone.

We headed home for my father had to get back to work and Aunt and new Uncle returned a short time later. After this my aunt and I didn’t do much together cause she had her martial duties to care for.

Soon after the wedding my family went to California and took up residence there. My aunt had a son after three or four years and later she and her family also came to the golden state.

My father got the man a job in the mill he worked at and he worked there until the war broke out. He then went to work in a defense factory for the duration of the war. Others in the family came to California and went to work in the shipyards until the war was over. Two of my aunts were welders while the men worked on the slab.

One of my other Aunts met and married a man who also worked in the shipyard and after the war they moved to Sacramento Ca.

One uncle had returned to his home town while another moved out on a ranch and worked there.  Another aunt came to California after the war and lived there until she married and moved to Chicago.

My father was frozen on his job during the war and couldn’t seek a more lucrative position at a higher wage.  It seemed unfair but it kept him on the job making material for soldier’s needs.

This background sets the stage for what I tell you next. Of my many aunts, the one who came to live with us in North Carolina was my favorite. She was good to me and was a help to me when I needed it. While living in California a man she had met tried to stab her and after the police let him go he returned and shot her dead. This was a blow to all the family, her husband, and the children.

The man was pure evil for he had shot and killed his wife with a shot gun and he only served three years in prison for that. After murdering my aunt the justice system gave him life without parole but set him free after seven years.

He later took a small child and sexually assaulted her. Thankfully he died in prison before the parole board set him free again.

While it doesn’t rule my life I still have feelings of hate for this evil human being and the falsely called justice system that allowed this personification of evil to roam free.

Do I forgive this man for his despicable life? No because in doing so I become a party in his doings and I will not validate his existence by justifying him and his evil doings. If he wants forgiveness he will have to get it from God but I fear there was no repentance to be found in him.

A too liberal view on Jesus’ teachings on forgiveness can distort His views on righteousness and his judgments as in the case of Ananias and Sapphira.

A clear understanding of the dangers of allowing hate to rule one’s life will bring balance to one’s existence where they can abhor evil and love righteousness.

I find Proverbs 8:13 says it well; “To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech”.

Romans 12:9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. A man and his actions are one and must be judged accordingly.