Love is Slow to Anger

Today I was at the bank making a car payment. The line was unusually long, but I didn’t really care too much. There was free coffee, so I was perfectly content drinking a cup and looking at twitter on my iPhone. I was barely paying attention when it was finally my turn to go to the teller. “I can help whoever is next in line” I heard her say and I looked up. Before I could take a step, a young lady next to me darted toward her. “It’s whatever” I thought to myself and unlocked my phone to look at twitter again. But then, without warning, the lady behind me says in a loud voice “hey, miss, you’re not next in line! She is!” as she shoves me forward. Before I could even say, “Oh, it’s totally okay,” the two ladies are having a full-blown argument in the middle of the quiet bank. People are staring and I can’t even explain how uncomfortable I became. It turned into a blur as I felt my face become beat red I just remember the lady behind me telling the other woman that she can “get in her place at the back of the line.” and then the lady responding with throwing her hands in the air and swearing using the Lord’s name in vain. Then the teller waved her hand at my and said, “come on, honey.” I probably looked like I’d just witnessed a murder as I walked up to her with my jaw dropped. What a lovely Wednesday morning.
 
I left the bank thinking about how that situation could have been one hundred percent avoided had those women not be so quick to anger. This is an issue that just blows my mind. People choose to get so mad over things that are virtually unimportant. So what if you have to wait an extra 2.79 minutes at the bank? I’m a server at a restaurant and it always astonishes me when people throw the biggest fits about there being too light of cheese on their pizza. I could give a zillion more examples of people freaking out at my work, but I won’t just because it is part of my job to say “the customer is always right” and do as they wish. But really, the truth of the matter is that it is only dinner. I don’t know why people can’t just enjoy their company and not stress about the small things. People actually like to get flustered about things that aren’t really going to affect their lives the second that they walk out of the restaurant. Why do they care? Why put so much effort into being pissed off? Why?!
 

 
There was this one tweet that I once read that made me literally laugh out loud: “if girls were as nice to each other in real life as they were in facebook comments, imagine how different the world would look.” This made me laugh so hard because it is SO true! A lot of times, girls are a vicious bunch of human beings. I hate to admit that, but most girls will confess some truth in that statement. The point that I am trying to make is that we shouldn’t be so mean to each other. Girls and guys are called to love one another, as Jesus loves each and every one of us. We shouldn’t become so easily upset with one another.
 

 
Now, I am not saying that I am perfect by ANY means. I do get angry just like any other human. And my being so naïve when it comes to things that should upset people, isn’t necessarily the best characteristic about me. However I don’t stress the small things in life. I don’t ever want to be angry if I don’t have to be. I would never seek out an argument or confront an issue that doesn’t need to be addressed. Sure some people may say that this makes me “passive” or “too soft-spoken” but that isn’t the case at all. I am just trying to be like Christ in love and I truly believe with all my heart that if we all just loved one another (or at least tried really hard) that the world would be a completely different and beautiful place.
 

 
I was going to title this blog “Slow to Anger” but decided that really, it all comes down to love. If we love one another as Jesus commands, we will naturally be slow to anger and not become as upset with each other. It’s all about love.