Anger issues…

Thanks,

I've learned this morning that the plebiscite is tomorrow, I have more time pray and will use it well.

 

It took me aback as well. I am more than 60% direct Irish descent and I do not have a bad temper thanks be to God. Nor do any of my relatives also very Irish. Nor do any of my Irish friends. What they all do have is a wonderful sense of humor and an ability to laugh at themselves and a deep abiding sense of both the whimsical and the mystical.

 

According to my DNA profile I am 97% Irish, though born in the UK. I wish that I could say that I shared your experiences of 'Irishness'. A sense of humour was certainly widely (though not universally) evident among my Irish relatives as was a weakness for alcohol with its attendant problems. The mystical aspect appears to have escaped the majority of those living in the Republic who voted for abortion and 'same sex marriage'. My mother (Dublin born) taught me to cherish my ancestry but I have become less and less endeared to it in recent years and believe me, if she and her siblings were anything to go by, the temper reputation was certainly deserved and I wouldn't dispute it.

 

I am afraid I started something. When I was called a racist I decided to delve into that further wondering if I am racist. I tend to analyze everything to pieces. So I looked up the definition of racism and it means to deal with the color of one’s skin. There is a difference between race and ethnicity. A characteristic of ethnicity is something handed down that deals with customs and tradition. My point of view would fall into this category. I think racism has been tossed around very loosely especially in the political realm. Do, with my ethnic heritage we didn’t look at temper as necessarily a bad thing unless it provoked violence. But a temper can be justified anger. God did say he wanted the hot and cold not the lukewarm.So in this instance a temper could be a good thing if it got you to the point of justifiable anger. But with anything, temper must be tempered. My husband is German and Is stubborn. But does not have a temper. One of our sons gave us a coffee mug that says Irish temper and German stubbornness. Maybe we are being too politically correct and thin skinned. I don’t know. It is hard to have a conversation or opinion in a blog.

 

Praise be to the Lord! I just found out that the Constitution has been rejected, I have been offering up prayers of thanksgiving throughout the day!

 

Wonderful!

 

Yes, RW, I read that in the news!

 

I enjoyed reading this.

It reminded me of growing up with my own family.

7 boys and 3 girls.

Of course we used to regularly fight, we boys.

My Father had the most appalling temper and my Mother, a country woman, her slap in the face was being like kicked by a mule.

Our House used to get raided on a regular basis by British soldiers and police, also bad tempered who used to wreck the place.

At school very bad tempered teachers and bullying fellow pupils.

I think even our dogs were bad tempered and tried to bite folks.

Around us our Protestant neighbours detested Catholics worse than poison and often had a shot at trying to murder or burn us out. I was beat up regularly as a child for being Catholic.

We grew tough because our circumstance was tough.

A local comedian one time said about us Caughey's that the only thing soft about us is our teeth.

I am old enough now to recognise that nothing is going to change about my temper till I die. It will always be there.. The only thing that has changed is that I am more inclined to rein it in.

I am hope and trust in the fact that Our Lord Jesus knowing our family and personal circumstances may be easier on us than we sometimes on ourselves.

Certainly there was a lot of bad temper and violence looking back on it.

But there was an awful lot of love too.

May the two things even each other out a little.

 

Prayers for your intention RW.