Posts by Jonah

I have a superpower.

I only discovered it recently, though it turns out it had been there all along.

And for the longest time I thought it was my greatest weakness.

I was continually chastised for it.  I fought to suppress it.  I sought counseling and read books on the subject.

My greatest weakness is anger.

I’m angry all the time.  Even when I am relaxed, joking around, having a good time… I’m still angry.  I’m angry at carelessness and waste.  I’m angry about inefficiency and injustice.  I’m angry because of inattention and cruelty.

A turning point in my journey (and my life) was reading Make Anger Your Ally by clinical psychologist Neil Clark Warren.  Anger, he explains, is a natural internal response that prepares us to cope with hurtful, frustrating and fearful experiences. Anger is a physical state of readiness. When we are angry, we are prepared to act.

Of course, my first reaction when I’m acutely angry is to slam doors, kick a hole through a wall, or burn a building down.  And without developed self-control, I would be completely destructive and do all of those things.

But I’ve learned I can channel this force.  This is why I make phone calls to the mayor’s office and leave voicemails while stopped at unnecessarily long traffic lights.  This is why I write letters to airlines demanding partial refunds.  This is why I attend my neighborhood’s special water district board meetings when we haven’t had any water for three weekends in a row. And all those things got fixed.

And I get to use my superpower at work.  I work at a law firm that helps injured workers get the medical treatment they need and the lost wages they’ve missed.  I get to use my superpower making phone calls, writing nasty letters, drafting snarky court motions.

Anger isn’t wrong.  It isn’t a sin.  The Bible says God gets angry.  The Apostle Paul says not to let the sun go down on your anger.  But that’s good advice.  Anger gives you immediate energy to get things done.  Do the constructive thing you can while you’re still angry.  Don’t wait until tomorrow if you can.

I’ve learned to embrace my anger.  I still slip up sometimes, especially when I’m very tired.  But I’ve learned that, when I feel that rage starting to explode, I should look around to see what I can do in that moment to act to fix the problem that’s making me angry.  And then I do it with an energy that I would never normally have.

My superpower is anger.

Every year I plan to say something I’m grateful for each day in November, and every year I forget. So here’s a list of thirty things I’m grateful for posted on December 1.

1. For my amazing husband who worked his butt off to get a degree and as a result was able to get a job that compensates him very well and where is very highly valued.
2. That my amazing husband hasn’t quit or been fired.
3. For our beautiful house.
4. For my beautiful commute. I tell you what, I’d rather drive the 45 minutes I do now than the 10 minutes I used to have to drive on the Interstate.
5. For podcasts.
6. For a job I enjoy, where I can do good, and where I can use my superpower.
7. For my superpower (more on this later).
8. For industrious coworkers I get along with well.
9. For bosses that I love.
10. For my car. I love my car so much. Thanks, Berck, for buying it for me!
11. For safety driving. Disaster can strike so quickly, and every time I arrive somewhere uninjured I am grateful.
12. For my friends.
13. For the Internet. I have friends all over the world, and the Internet makes to so easy to keep in touch with them.
14. For the Internet in my pocket.
15. For pockets.
16. For not only always having enough to eat but having delicious food to eat.
17. For my husband’s cooking skills. If you’ve ever had Berck’s cooking, you know what I’m talking about.
18. For running water. In our neighborhood, this is an iffy situation. But we have running water today.
19. For a heated garage. It’s so nice to get into a warm car in the mornings.
20. That, so far, I don’t have to shop at Walmart.
21. For Amazon.com.
22. For a wonderful freezer that makes crushed ice.
23. For devices that allow me to see far away (glasses).
24. For ten fingers that allow me to type and play music.
25. For gel pens. We used to only have ballpoint pens, you know.
26. For my husband’s beard. Yes, I like beards, but mostly for the fact that he’s willing to grow one so my face doesn’t have to deal with his sandpaper stubble.
27. For my dishwasher. I’m serious when I say this is very near the the top of my list of things I’m grateful for.
28. For our sweet cat. We remark regularly how lucky we are to get such a good free Craigslist cat. He’s not the smartest, but he always has a good attitude, all things considered. He doesn’t have a mean bone in his body.
29. That I get to live only an hour away from my parents and get to see them whenever I want.
30. For my amazing family. I am related to some of the most amazing people alive, and I think that is so cool!

My cousin Jim died yesterday. Here’s a picture of a bunch of us cousins at Mardi Gras. Jim is on the left. Jim was much more like an uncle than a cousin, always generous, being sure to always keep in touch. One of my favorite memories of him was the time he smuggled me into the annual Mensa convention by talking our way in. Another was him awakening the proprietress of Antoine’s, the oldest restaurant in Louisiana, so she could give us a tour one morning. I’ve heard that he would occasionally get asked for his autograph by people who mistook him for Rush Limbaugh and he would take their pen and paper and sign his own name. A scholar and a gentleman, you’ll be missed, Jim.

I did get my neck rub.

I did get my drink the next evening.  The cat supervised.

I was able to fix the zipper on my jacket lining by squeezing the pull with some pliers.  Here’s my jacket tag.  I’m guessing it’s Chinese, but the text seems to be in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, along with the English.  It’s  a really good jacket, but I’m guessing it’s probably not legit, since I can’t find anything on the Internet First Siberian leather jackets.