Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2018 08:12:29 -0400
From: Betty Phillips
Subject: Peace to the Neighborhood
Thank you Leda and others who call for civil discourse and informed discussions on the Chatlist. Vicious anger is never helpful to anyone and especially to those who spew forth their venom. We do need the Chatlist for rational decisions and invitations to participate in positive neighborhood issues. If you study psychology you will know that this kind of anger hurts the angry person as well as observers. Many just want to stay away and some unfortunately drop out of the Chatlist just to avoid such harmful anger.
Once I asked one of my clients how she had learned to cope with harmful and upsetting issues. She said she learned to say “so what” I didn’t know that had been my primary counsel to her, but it is a marvelous way to calm yourself down. So what that some people think this and that, only polite discussions of issues will inform opinions of others. When people are angry the best advice is to calm down and think rationally. Thanks for listening.
Betty Phillips