We all know that anger and self-centeredness can lead to terrible consequences—far worse than we might have imagined. I do not mean the kind of “righteous” anger, which is a controlled, firm, and resolved anger on behalf of others. I mean the reactive, self-centered, emotion outburst devoid of reflection.
We have all experience it. Often we try to argue that it is actually of the first kind of anger, but the self-reflective persons knows, even if they don’t admit it, that it is the second kind.
It’s destructive because it makes me God—I decide who is right and who is wrong; I have no guilt or responsibility, and my words are The Word.
Words can wound, of course, but sometimes our anger leads to actions that are just as reactive and unexamined. Words can’t be taken back, but they can be explained, rejected, and replaced with other words. But actions can often have consequences that cannot be turned back.
Sometimes those consequences hurt others, sometimes they hurt us (the angry one), quite often they hurt both.
The third short story in my book, The Sky Over Chaos, is entitled “Three Hour and Thirteen Minutes.” It deals with a man who is so angry that both words and actions are out of control. He becomes so enraged that he no longer can think rationally or safely.
Since blind anger loses sight of structure, I mixed up the time frame of the narrative. The past is narrated backward, revealing the genesis of the anger. The present is narrated normally, but interspersed with the reverse flashbacks.
The title comes both from the time frame of the story, and the idea that in numerology, “three” denotes perfection, while “thirteen” is considered bad luck in many cultures.
I used the setting of a boat on the ocean, because of the nautical saying, “The sea will find out everything you did wrong.” When I am out on the ocean, bobbing upon a body of water so vast and deep it boggles the mind, I am humbled. At my own minuscule-ness and lack of control over external events. Any mistakes could be fatal. So losing one’s rational thought in such a setting could be catastrophic.
Would such a catastrophe make the mindless anger go away? Shock an angry person into some rationality? We would hope so…but I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Chaos rattles our arrogance, shakes loose the dust, breaks rigor mortis. In chaos, you find out who you are—what matters, what you fear, what you love…Here is a collection of nine short stories about chaos in multiple genres: historical, speculative, stream-of-consciousness, poetic, literary, and more.
- Morty loves his job. Really loves it. Perhaps not so strange, except that he is an embalmer at a funeral home. What happens when someone loves their job so much they don’t want to do anything else?
- Becky’s husband is away on business, in the cold of a snowy winter, when her youngest of four girls develops diphtheria. In the late 1800s, what can a young mother do?
- What if everyone had a hat but you? And it really mattered?
- Poor Charlie. He really needs order in his life. He prides himself on schedule, structure, and sameness. So did his grandmother…and they found her dead in a house crawling with thousands of insects she had collected.
Included stories: “Three Days,” “Turn and Face the Change,” ‘Three Hours and Thirteen Minutes,” “Ringing,” “Hats,” “Preparation,” “Ten More Days,” “Behind the Bar,” “What Does the River Say?”
Available from select retailers in paperback, eBook, and audiobook.
(Photo by Casey Horner on Unsplash)
