Anger Management

Narrative Essay

"Anger Management"

I hear some people say that they got so angry they lost control and didn't know what they were doing. I often wondered what that must be like. I, being a very passive person, have never lost control when I've become angered. I've always had total awareness of my situation. In the movie "Anger Management", Jack Nicholson so nicely stated: "Your temper is the one thing you can't get rid of by losing

it" I've probably come close at times, but never gone over the edge to uncontrollable rage. I remember there was one time it came close.

It happened one late Sunday afternoon. My friend Dan and I were sitting in his car patiently waiting for the next availably gas pump. It was hot, really hot! The temperature was still over the century mark. The way the sun was beating down on us reminded me of when I was a young boy using my magnifying glass on helpless crawling insects. I was dripping wet with sweat and every part of my body ached. I was so exhausted from the work we did this weekend I could hardly move.

A gentleman motioned to us that he had finished and was going to leave. Dan got the pump number and went into the store to pay for the gas. As the car pulled away I began to pull Dan's car up to the pump when all of a sudden, this van come screeching around from the opposite direction, trying to get to the pump before me. I stepped on it and the driver of the van slammed on his brakes. I continued until I was just inches from his bumper. I made sure I was close enough for the hose to reach.

The driver of the van was waving his hands, yelling, and eventually got out and started yelling at me; "

"Did you pay for this pump?" he yelled

"Yes, he's in the store paying for it now" I replied.

He pauses a moment and then starts up again.

"You almost hit my van. You didn't have to come so close."

I open the cover to find a locked gas cap. All I want to do is finish my business and go home. So I hurry to the other side, get the keys and return to unlock the cap. And all this time this lunatic is still giving me S$#T about his van. As I unlock the cap and get the hose, I mumble under my breath: Ah blow it out your a$#. Now he starts screaming

"WHAT! WHAT WAS THAT! WHAT DID YOU SAY TO ME?"

Normally I would have ignored him. I always let things slide. I don't like getting all worked up over something stupid.

I don't know what came over me. He must have pushed all the right buttons, because all of a sudden, I didn't seem so hot anymore. The aches and pains were gone and theirs this tremendous burst of energy in every part of my body. I turned to face him and replied at the top of my lungs,

"I SAID, BLOW IT OUT YOU'RE A$#"

With no delay, he replied: