The Anger of Jealousy

One of the most traumatic episodes my cousins lived through involved my uncle in a conflict with his wife, which could have led to imprisonment for the rest of his life: one day back in the mid-1970s, a villainous co-worker{probably my aunt in disguise}intimated that she had seen her sister-in-law trying to seduce a work-place colleague who'd offered to drive her home.

This was enough of a rumor to get my uncle worked up into a frenzy.

He drove to her place of work, spied on her, and when he saw a strange man escorting her to the car, he took the rest of the day off, drove home, and waited, almost hidden and crouching, to pounce on her like she was some unsuspecting prey.

Upon her return, he attacked and savagely beat her{so I was informed by my father}, stripped her naked and forcibly spread her legs, sadistically growled, ¨So, it's a big cock you're after, huh?¨, or words to that effect, and brutally rammed his clenched fist right up her unsuspecting vagina, straight into the uterus. She bled so much that their daughters feared for her life before the ambulance finally arrived, then drove her to the hospital.

And yet, the dreadful episode remained a closely guarded secret until, at last, the final straw was manifested in a revelation, or perhaps another vicious rumor, a few years later that he had, on numerous occasions, attempted to rape his own daughters, and he had six of them. At this point, his eldest children banded together, overtook him while he was dozing, beat him senselessly, spewing obscene invectives in the process, and literally threw him out of the house, then presented him with a police restraining order.

Thence onward, he would be a vagabond till the day he died from complications due to the amputation of his leg, which came about as a consequence of diabetes. He was isolated, virtually abandoned when the family received news of his extinction.

He died un-mourned, unloved.

How does one explain away a life like that? What purpose did his example serve, except to magnify the horrors of anger and hate for the yet untried to learn from, and build on the ruins of past lives? It makes no sense. Anger, in the ultimate sense, makes no sense if to build a just and positive life is the purpose of one's struggles. Anger only exemplifies the imbalance of the humors, of harmony and accord with our individual environment and domestic or public situation. Anger serves as a reminder of the horrors that lurk just beneath the calm surface in any character, all circumstances, every motive or resolution that drives human behavior and, justifies or excuses any or all actions or reactions.

But then, what of jealousy? Does my uncle's example reveal anything new about human intent or subconscious motivation? No, just the fact that the Children of Anger are never safe, and never should be complacent in view of he emotions that that constantly play on our imaginations or suspicions ~ particularly with respect to issues involving sex, matrimonial vows, commitment to relationships, and what-have-you. We are as weak as the next person, after all, and those of us who know and understand this irrefutable fact suffer most of all!

But we should all remember ~ the ultimate outcome is death, just as it came for my uncle. Death is the common denominator, therefore we must be on guard against the imbalance of the humors lest we invite death to attend early and wait upon us for no good purpose.