Anger

     Alright, so something crazy happened to me today. I was out with my sister and my mom buying clothes (because that's what girls do) and we decided that we want to stop at a gas station to get drinks. I get Dr Pepper of course, because that is the best drink in the world! :)  So, anyway, we get back in the car and situate ourselves. My mom turns on the car and then immediately flips on the air condition. Then, she turns to look back so she can pull out of her parking spot. The car just sits there. It isn't moving. She turns the car off and turns it on again. It rumbles a little bit, but doesn't fully turn on. She does this over and over again, but we don't move. Something's wrong. We're stuck. Of course at this point the air conditioning isn't on and I'm dying. Well, not literally dying... but I was HOT! I mean like the kind of hot where you want to take off all of your clothes and stand in front of an air conditioner blasting 40° air. Ok... that was a bit over dramatic, but still. So, my mom grabs her phone and casually calls my dad. We sit there and wait. People are looking at us because we're just casually sitting in the parking lot drinking our drinks. I'm trying to cool of, so I'm just sitting there with my legs all spread out. I probably looked like a dude doing that, but I didn't really care. I was wearing long skinny jeans and a shirt with the sleeves that went halfway to my elbows. This was one of my hottest summer outfits that I could have possibly chosen, and I decided to wear it today. Of course I would do that. I'm just that type of person! :)  So, my dad finally arrives and pops up the hood of the car. He, after unsuccessfully working on it for a few minutes, comes to the conclusion that he wants to move the car to a different spot in the parking lot. He tells me to get behind the wheel and to put our poor dead car in neutral so that my parents can push and I can steer us to the parking spot. So, they begin to push. I look behind me to see if there are cars coming, and there is one. I step on the break and immediately my dad, who is tired, hot, and very frustrated, angrily asks why I stopped the car. I tell him that I would have crashed if I didn't stop it. He doesn't tell me at the time, but apparently he could have stopped the car from rolling out into the street. It was moving slow enough for them to stop it. At this point I was getting pretty annoyed. It was hot, I wanted to go home, and my dad didn't have any common sense. So, anyway, the car passes and we start backing up again. I look back, and yet ANOTHER car is coming. I push the break, and my dad and I have another argument. Except this time I wasn't at all in the mood to be respectful. I raised my voice and shouted that there was a car and I didn't want to crash his car. Normally I wouldn't just flat out yell at my dad (I'm more of the angry silence type), but I seriously thought that they didn't realize that there was a car behind me. So, after it passes, I furiously steer the car backwards and pull into the parking spot. Since the car was in neutral, the steering wheel wouldn't steer at all. It felt like someone was pulling it the other was as I tried to turn it and steer the car. At this point, I was ready to hit someone. I was so upset. It was hot, and everyone was making me mad. I again, after getting out, tell my dad why I braked, and he just angry replied with the same thing he said earlier. After that, I just go off and sit. I ignore everyone and just lean against my dad's car in a furious way. I cooled down eventually, like I always do. Our car eventually began working again, and we drove it home. It's in our drive way know, and as far as we can tell it's working. :)

     So, I did learn something from this.... annoying experience. Anger is NOT the way to go. Getting annoyed at a situation really just makes it worse. Of course, it's sometimes difficult to avoid. But that doesn't really make it right. I tend to have a short temper, but I try to control it under certain situations. That does NOT always happen though. Getting angry and annoyed is a very ugly quality to have in your life. It makes people really not enjoy hanging out with you. The Bible says to be slow to anger and slow to speak. Being slow to anger means to be... well, slow to anger. To not get angry quickly. To be patient. The second one means to not say what is on your mind all of the time. Before you say something, think about how the people you're going to say that to will react. Will they laugh? Will they be offended? Will it make them cry? And after evaluating all of those things, imagine yourself standing there. Would you say that thing to yourself? You don't want to hurt yourself, do you? After thinking of that and you still think the thing is ok to say, then go ahead and say that. Unless of course everyone moved on to a different topic and the thing you wanted to say is irrelevant. So, in simpler terms, think before you speak. I am told this WAY too much by my dad. That's not really a good sign if someone keeps telling you to think before you speak, right? :)