Self-Witnessing Report on the Age of Rage
Rage A Growing Emotion
by Shari Uyehara
April 30, 2001
The 21st century is the age of rage. People let their emotions get the best of them and this turns into unmanageable anger. In my first report, Annotated Bibliography on the Age of Rage, I discovered many forms of rage that occur throughout peoples daily living. I reported on workplace rage, sports rage, air rage, computer rage, and walking rage. These are feelings people experience everyday and this does not improve the quality of living. It endangers their health and sanity.
Violence in the workplace should not be something people have to worry about. Employers, employees, and customers have the right to feel safe. There are personalities that clash and emotions flare up when people have to interact. In these situations people need to know how to handle themselves and the problem. Knowledge is the smart way to deal with all situations. There are training programs available that can be implemented into any workplace to teach people how to deal with violence. The programs will not prevent all incidences, but it will help to curb violence in the workplace.
Sports rage is a common behavior in all sports in this day and age. Sports is a competitive game and peoples emotions are what drives them to succeed. This is what makes sports an emotional game and there are times when anger will take over the game. Anger is not acceptable when it affects children. Children are suppose to play sports for fun and when coaches and parents turn it into a war zone the true learning experience of sports is lost. Preventing sports rage and reinforcing good sportsmanship among kids will instill morals and values important for their growth.
Riding the airplane is one step closer to the common use of automobiles. People fly so frequently they should probably own a plane. Planes force people to interact in a tight space creating a situation filled with different personalities and sometimes people with short tempers. Understanding human behavior is important to the prevention of air rage. Air rage is an issue that has to be dealt with strategically in order to create a safe environment. There are many websites that offer information on air rage.
Technology is constantly changing at a very high pace that is surpassing human capabilities of understanding this change. It is a fact that purchasing a new computer today is going to be old tomorrow. How can humans keep up knowing that computers are improving everyday ? Humans are creatures of habit and constant change creates tension that can build up and explode into computer rage. Change and learning something new is important to grow as a person, but computers push buttons that are unlike anything else. Computer rage is something everyone has to deal with because it is integrated into society. Learning to deal with computer rage is important in lowering peoples stress and it allows people to function in control of their emotions.
Walking is one of the characteristics that define people as humans. Homo sapiens walk up right on two legs with a straight posture. People walk at different speeds and this can create walking rage. Everybody is on the move and constantly busy with things to do and errands to run. When people are held up and forced to slow down there is a loss of a mind frame, which can be called the zone, that makes people angry. For those people who have a problem with slow walkers they need to learn to deal with the situation. By dealing with the situation I don't mean enforcing speed limits. What I do mean is going a different route or going passed the slow walkers excusing any disruptions that may occur. People have a right to walk how they want and placing restrictions is an infringement on their rights.
Researching on Report 1 has made an impact on how I view the age of rage. The 21st century can be called the age of rage, which is obvious of what it says about our society. People are constantly doing things leaving no time to think. Society is then moving at high speeds creating a force that is destructive to humanity. If people are busy moving with no thought in mind, then there is a loss of compassion, respect, and patience. In society it is understood that if a person slows down, they will be run over and others will jump ahead of the game. I think this mind frame has such a strong influence on peoples everyday lives that they have no tolerance for others and a self-centered attitude.
Rage is becoming the easy answer to solve problems. Nobody wants to take the time to correct an issue peacefully. People tend to think the world revolves around them and by thinking this way they are disrespecting other peoples rights as a human being with feelings. The self-centered attitude is also sensitive to others actions towards them. So, any situation that crosses them the wrong way triggers their rage. People have every right to feel the emotions that are being brought out. However, there is a problem when every situation that involves an interaction with people creates a new form of rage in society today.
There are two outcomes for the future on the age of rage. Either people will recognize the problems of society and change it creating a better environment or people will go on ignoring the downfall of society and things will get worse. People need to have compassion, respect, and patience. I believe this is the start to making a difference. There are things about American culture that needs to be changed, but in order for it to change morals and values need to change. When people posses the quality of compassion they care about other peoples feelings and this would allow a support system among society to be a social norm. Respect is lacking in our society, especially among the youth today. If people respected others then their would be better communication and a sense of cooperation in society. The virtue of patience is a key factor in our society that Americans feel they don't have time for. Patience brings peace to feelings of tension and stress and an understanding of emotional intelligence.
The self-witnessing observations goes into detail the process of rage and how to prevent such behavior. The accounts are incidences that I have been through. There are three situations that I have experienced rage and I use a Three Step Method offered by the Road Rage book to go into more depth of my behavior. The Three Step Method includes an acknowledgment of rage, a self-witness to the behavior of rage, and the modification of behavior. I realized things about my emotions like, they can be incontrollable, overwhelming, and continuous. The self-witnessing observations gave insight to my behavior and from my experiences that I write about I then discuss my psychological conclusions that cause people to rage. This analysis is located in the Discussion section.
Self-Witnessing Observations Discussion References
Class Home Page: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy14/g14classhome.html