Anger of all sorts.
Mine, and many of my friends, of the “Spontaneous, mindless, aggressively hostile” variety.

What a destructive force.

Peace.
Not as powerful.
Not nearly.

Look up definitions of peace or peaceful and most often we get “freedom for war,” or some such definition contenting itself with the negative of anger. Anger defining peace.

In my experience, the quietest or most peaceful people I know are just fingernail scrapes away from removing their veneer to reveal true anger.

Self-preservation, anger?
Maybe.
Not sure.

Fought it all my life with modest success.

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Today’s post illustrates an angry police officer.

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Today is Thursday, August 23
This is my 135th consecutive daily posting.
Time is 5.09am and we are blessed with another gorgeous day: warm, sunny, and low humidity.
Today’s dinner is Out, @ Summer Shack in Cambridge. to pay back a debt in the form of a pan-roasted lobster.
 

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Encyclopediacs
What is anger?
Find the answer just before today’s Post below.
Give yourself partial credits for partial answers.
 

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Thumbnail Biography:
Leo Ernest Durocher (July 27, 1905 – October 7, 1991), nicknamed Leo the Lip and Lippy, was an American professional baseball player, manager and coach.
He played in Major League Baseball as an infielder.

Upon his retirement, he ranked fifth all-time among managers with 2,009 career victories, second only to John McGraw in National League history.
Durocher still ranks tenth in career wins by a manager.

A controversial and outspoken character, Durocher had a stormy career dogged by clashes with authority, the baseball commissioner, umpires (his 95 career ejections as a manager trailed only McGraw when he retired, and still rank fourth on the all-time list), and the press.

Durocher was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994

Thank you, Wikipedia

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Reader’s Comment: from Tommie Toner

The older one gets, the faster time passes. I remember thinking I would never be sixteen when I could drive legally! Now, there seems to be not enough hours in the day to do everything I want to do. Also, I am finding, with age, that it takes me longer to accomplish simple things like laundry. Then . . . it takes me forever to figure out how to move a photo from email to a word document - something that would have taken a few minutes 10 years ago. I really need to take a tech course to update my skills and knowledge of newer, better, faster programs. Then, I think, no! I don't want to spend my precious time learning about a computer . . . I had rather read my book, Leonardo Da Vinci by Walter Isaacson, or paint.

Web Meister Responds: Amen to that!

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Movie Details
The Last Angry Man (1959) is a drama film which tells the story of a television producer who profiles the life of a physician.
It stars Paul Muni (in his last film appearance), David Wayne, Betsy Palmer, Billy Dee Williams (in his film debut), and Godfrey Cambridge.

The movie was scripted by Richard Murphy from the novel by Gerald Green (who also adapted it), and was directed by Daniel Mann.

The movie was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor (Paul Muni) and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White (Carl Anderson, William Kiernan).

The film was remade in 1974 as an ABC Movie of the Week, with Pat Hingle in the lead role.

Thank you, Wikipedia

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Word of the Day
yoga
a Hindu spiritual and ascetic discipline, a part of which, including breath control, simple meditation, and the adoption of specific bodily postures, is widely practiced for health and relaxation.

yoga
is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India. Yoga is one of the six orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy.
There is a broad variety of yoga schools, practices, and goals in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.
Among the most well-known types of yoga are Hatha yoga and Rāja yoga.

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Answer for Encyclopediacs
Anger or wrath is an intense negative emotion.
It involves a strong uncomfortable and hostile response to a perceived provocation, hurt or threat.
Anger can occur when a person feels their personal boundaries are being or are going to be violated. Some have a learned tendency to react to anger through retaliation as a way of coping.

Raymond Novaco of University of California Irvine, who since 1975 has published a plethora of literature on the subject, stratified anger into three modalities: cognitive (appraisals), somatic-affective (tension and agitations), and behavioral (withdrawal and antagonism).

William DeFoore, an anger management writer, described anger as a pressure cooker: we can only apply pressure against our anger for a certain amount of time until it explodes.
 

Anger is an emotional reaction that impacts the body.
A person experiencing anger will also experience physical conditions, such as increased heart rate, elevated blood pressure, and increased levels of adrenaline and noradrenaline.
Some view anger as an emotion which triggers part of the fight or flight brain response.
Anger is used as a protective mechanism to cover up fear, hurt or sadness.

Anger becomes the predominant feeling behaviorally, cognitively, and physiologically when a person makes the conscious choice to take action to immediately stop the threatening behavior of another outside force.
The English term originally comes from the term anger of Old Norse language.

Anger can have many physical and mental consequences.

The external expression of anger can be found in facial expressions, body language, physiological responses, and at times public acts of aggression. Facial expressions can range from inward angling of the eyebrows to a full frown.
Some animals, for example, make loud sounds, attempt to look physically larger, bare their teeth, and stare.
The behaviors associated with anger are designed to warn aggressors to stop their threatening behavior. Rarely does a physical altercation occur without the prior expression of anger by at least one of the participants.

While most of those who experience anger explain its arousal as a result of "what has happened to them," psychologists point out that an angry person can very well be mistaken because anger causes a loss in self-monitoring capacity and objective observability.

Modern psychologists view anger as a primary, natural, and mature emotion experienced by virtually all humans at times, and as something that has functional value for survival.
Anger is seen as a supportive mechanism to show a person that something is wrong and requires changing.
Anger can mobilize psychological resources for corrective action.

Uncontrolled anger can, however, negatively affect personal or social well-being and impact negatively on those around them.
It is equally challenging to be around an angry person and the impact can also cause psychological/emotional trauma if not dealt with.
While many philosophers and writers have warned against the spontaneous and uncontrolled fits of anger, there has been disagreement over the intrinsic value of anger.
The issue of dealing with anger has been written about since the times of the earliest philosophers, but modern psychologists, in contrast to earlier writers, have also pointed out the possible harmful effects of suppressing anger.
Displays of anger can be used as a manipulation strategy for social influence.

TODAY’S POST

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
8.50am, Hang on, help is on the way

 

Lt. Sam nosed the car into a “Reserved Parking” slot in front of the Area One police station, Captain John Silva, in full dress uniform, rushing over to the driver’s window, tapping vigorously, the window sliding down.

Silva defined burly and his aggressive speech delivery slotted him into the stereotypical image of a bullying cop. “Lieutenant, I hope you know what the f…,” the Captain’s head turning to the girls in the back seat, snapping back to Lt. Sam. “What you’re doing. You’re making us total fools in everyone’s eyes. You’d better be goddamned sure of yourself,” Captain John’s head in the driver’s window, inches away from Lt. Sam’s face.

Keeping his eyes fixed on the captain, Lt. Sam unlocked the car door, opened it slowly, slowly backing the captain so he could swing his legs to the ground and step out of the car to his feet. The Captain’s confrontation attracted the attention of the patrolmen waiting for Dee at the entry and three of them walked over to the car, watching and waiting quietly several feet away. The other doors opened to disgorge the passengers. 

 “Sorry, Captain. You seemed on board yesterday,” the two now nose to nose, the Captain’s middle-bulging six-two, two-twenty comparing poorly against the younger Lt. Sam’s fit six-four, two-forty. “When Sgt. Jesse and I drove five hours down to Truro and back to get her here.” Dee, her coat draped over her shoulders, skeletal but lovely and graceful, and Sgt. Jesse, plain, basic, stepped on either side of Lt. Sam, Doctor Mike and the girls arcing around Dee.

“Yeah! Before someone leaked it to the press. Was it you?”

“Me? Of course not. We agreed. Just now, though, I did spot that guy you know from the Globe who does that occasional piece he calls ‘Inside the City.’ Someone else must be using him for leaks besides you.”

“Whatever. And before I realized everyone on God’s friggin’ earth would come in on a Saturday morning with almost no notice to see the show. Do you know who’s waiting upstairs? Do you have any idea who’s waiting upstairs for you?”

Four curious reporters broke from the dozen loosely clustered at the blocked entrance and followed the footsteps of the patrolmen now waiting near Dee’s group. But half a dozen patrolmen called out, blocked their way, and returned the newsmen to milling about the station steps. The Captain energetically continued his rant.

“The entire city is upstairs, starting with the mayor’s office with three separate missions: A, to put this guy away; B, to protect the city from a lawsuit; and three, to spin it to the newspapers. An assistant DA with a psychiatrist is huddling with two people from Internal Affairs; and a representative from the Police Superior Officers union, upset over the attack on one of theirs, that would be me,” Captain John pointing to his bruised eye, at one time fully saturated, now fading from its original deep black.

“To a man these guys are totally skeptical or are totally opposed the hocus-pocus that you’ve arranged. As is the goddamned Cardinal, probably in a state of shock from this heretical mockery of Church rites. He sent the bishop plus one to monitor the farce. And the governor’s office has a representative here to keep an eye on the ‘theatre of the absurd,’ the press quoting him,” the Captain wiping spittle from his mouth.

“Sir, I don’t believe that the church is here in opposition…”

“Lieutenant, there could be a brawl upstairs. The Superior Officers’ Union is facing off against two dozen uniforms from the Patrolmen’s Union. I’ve never seen anything like this: two angry hostile groups together in close quarters, glaring, readying for an attack.

“Oh! And Messer’s wife is here with her lawyer, not a surprise – wanting to protect her husband and her family, don’t you know. What would you expect the poor woman to do?” Breathlessness didn’t slow the Captain.

“Just before I escaped the circus upstairs, the chief hung up on me, furious that I’m permitting this. I’m permitting this,” particles of spit nearly missing Lt. Sam. “Omigod! If I could stop it I would, in a heartbeat. I liked the guy, too, but J..,” he stopped.

“I came down here to give you a head’s up; and to get away from the mob up there staring at the nutso captain – that would be me. Ever take a fall, Lieutenant? Not fun, I promise you that,” one-finger waving.

“The worst friggin’ day of my career,” one hand clapping his forehead, the other on the car roof to support himself. “What a goddamned mistake. If this goes bad, I’ll suspend you on the spot; and you, too, sergeant,” one-finger-pointing at each in turn.

Stella, her two arms wrapped tightly around Dee’s elbow, nodded to Laini who commanded, “Let’s get started. Wait! Let’s leave our coats. A better effect.” Sgt. Jesse collected the coats and tossed them in the car.

Captain John blocking the direct path to the station doors, Lori-Baby stepped very close to him, a shield for the others to pass behind. The Captain spoke over Lori-Baby’s shoulder, “Too late now, girls, but I think this is a big…” his warning interrupted when Lori-Baby scraped his ankle with her foot.

Turning to the Captain over her shoulder, she pointed at Stella saying as she went, “Sorry. She pushed me.”

“Always on me! And if I did, an accident.”

Holding on to the car, the red-faced captain lifted his leg and rubbed his ankle, shouting to the backs of the four girls and attendant adults, “I’m taking the stairs. See you for the show. Let’s hope not a one-night stand. For your sake, lieutenant.”

                Laini stopped the elevator between floors two and three, pressing the emergency button, ignoring the alarm. “Sgt. Jesse, would you mind standing in that corner,” pointing to the front of the elevator. “Lt. Sam, beside her? Dr. Mike, you stand in the corner on the other side. They’re expecting a show. We don’t want to disappoint.”

Under Laini’s direction, the girls formed a straight line in the center of the cab, the tallest, Laini at six-one and Dee, at six-foot even, in the center, with Lori-Baby at five-eleven on Laini’s right, and Stella, at five-ten on Dee’s left. Laini restarted the elevator, the girls posturing: Lori-Baby facing directly out, her free hand on her hip, a challenge on her face; Dee staring into the distance, hearing nothing and no one, seeing no one and nothing; Stella smiling, open, and welcoming; and Laini erect, disdainful.