The world watched the Notre Dame Cathedral burn in 2019 and the world has now celebrated its rebirth at the end of 2024. Since its destruction, over 2,000 workers rebuilt the cathedral as it was. It is a stunning work of craftsmanship and appreciation of cultural heritage. On Saturday, December 7, 2024, church bells rang and the cathedral’s organ with over 7,000 pipes sang out. Dignitaries and elected officials of all kinds gathered for a ceremony led by the Archbishop of Paris.
The re-opening of the Notre Dame Cathedral was a moment of celebration and something encouraging to watch even from afar. It wasn’t perfect and the vestments weren’t very traditional, but if I trusted everyone on X, there’s a chance I would never have believed this event could occur and/or would have been simmering with anger over the Notre Dame for a couple of years before I was convinced this moment might come. I was told “the left” would insist that it be rebuilt as something else (not a church) or looking completely different and that “France” would hate a moment like this because they hate religion. And plenty of people were preemptively (if wrongly) angry. What a waste of energy.
Many are the people and pundits who get their kicks from making us pre-emptively, and often erroneously, angry. They highlight some situation that you don’t like and then say that this is what “the left” or “the right” wants. They pick an outlier and then tell you that the person is typical of “them.” They warn you that your favorite holiday is about to be ruined before you even leave your house in the morning. Now you’re salty about Christmas before we even hit Thanksgiving. They say things like “Reminder, the right hates you” or “Reminder, the left hates you.” They tell you the other side wants to live in a dystopia. (Are any conservatives actually using The Handmaid’s Tale as a playbook?) They want you to be upset about things that haven’t happened yet and convinced that you are deeply hated by people you don’t even know. It is insane behavior that ought to be ignored.
To begin, the people who are trying to make you angry are overestimating themselves. These people act as though they are omniscient when it comes to how people think and operate if those people are on the other end of the political spectrum. They consider themselves and their allies to be complex human beings with a variety of emotions and motivations, but do not extend that humanity to their political opponents. I have had people tell me “of course” and “you know” about how Biden or Trump makes decisions, but they have never met either man, never sat in on a family dinner, and don’t know anything about how either actually operates behind closed doors. If I were to suggest that I perfectly understand how my friend makes decisions and could easily predict all their decisions, they would be offended. No human being is omniscient. No one knows exactly what others “think” or “want” all the time. You know that. So, ignore people who claim otherwise.
These anger-inducers never apologize. They want you to be upset about things that haven’t happened yet—and frequently don’t happen at all. But they never admit that they are often wrong. They do not always fairly characterize people or their motivations. No one circles back to say “sorry.” Don’t allow anyone who can’t apologize that close to your emotions.
The future-predictors are stealing your present. They want you to go out into the world on edge, waiting for some predicted unpleasantness to occur. You don’t have the time to enjoy a simple exchange with a cashier or a person in line, because you are waiting for your big moment in the culture wars campaign that is happening in your local Target. You know how “it is” or how “they are” and you miss what is right in front of you—real life, real people.
It’s not that fun being angry. Perhaps pleasure is not the highest aim in life, but it is a nice part of life anyway. Anger is certainly neither the highest aim in life nor the most pleasurable part of existence. It seems very silly to sacrifice a very pleasant day in the present to anger stirred up about a predicted future day, which may or may not occur as predicted. If you want an elevated heart rate and a bit of a rush, play team sports. More adults should be playing sports anyway.
Finally, angry people typically aren’t good company. We might enjoy getting stirred up by angry people at a distance (via radio, television, podcast, X, print media, etc.), but we don’t usually seek them out in person. Think of the angriest person you know—fun to be around? You seek him/her out constantly for companionship? You love it when your friends and family are angry? Then do not allow yourself to become an angry person.
The best part of the future is that is hasn’t happened yet. You don’t have to be unhappy about it if you don’t want to be. Yes, you should be concerned about actual plans for the future that are bad and truly predictable outcomes—but many of the things that are upsetting you do not fall into those categories. There is enough going on today to occupy most of your energy.
The best thing about other people is that they are still people. You shouldn’t pretend you fully grasp and understand them when you know you have enough trouble fully understanding yourself. People have all kinds of interests and motivations and personal histories that make them complex and complicated and probably busy with things other than just hating you. Even if they do hate you, I doubt it is their full-time job. It’s silly to get all worked up about what “they want” assuming you know perfectly, when you know perfectly well you can’t even instantly decide what you want off a menu.
If someone wants you to be angry all the time, they might actually hate you. At the very least, they aren’t good at loving you. They are turning you into someone who cannot enjoy the moment and who has trouble connecting with others. Besides, according to James 1:20 “man’s anger does not bring about the righteousness that God desires.” Anger is the kind of seasoning that needs to be used somewhat sparingly. You can easily overdo it and ruin the whole dish. Don’t let people you don’t know get you to spoil your dinner.