The ’Anger Manifesto’, by Aglaya Dateshidze
If I’m angry with you, it doesn’t mean that I don’t love you. In fact, it means that you’ve actually become very close and important to me.
If I’m angry, it doesn’t mean I want to break up with you. It means I want to get to the root of the problem and make everything clear.
If I’m angry, it doesn’t mean you can’t talk to me.
When I’m angry, my thoughts become clearer and my intentions can be understood better.
If I’m angry, it doesn’t mean I want to hurt you. It means I need to talk with you up to that point where it becomes painful to hear certain things.
If I’m angry with you, it doesn’t mean you are a bad person. It means that you did something which I don’t like, and I’m making that clear to you.
If I’m angry, it doesn’t mean that I’m a bad person either. It means that I know where the limits of what I can stand are. It also means I know what I want in this life.
If I’m angry, it doesn’t mean I’m inevitably going to get even more incensed. It means that I will stop being angry as soon as you hear me out and understand.
If I’m angry with you, it doesn’t mean that I don’t respect you. It means that I can bear your negative qualities.
It means that I am trying to find the words and the actions which will effectively express what I’m really feeling without offending you.
If I shout, it might be because I am feeling a lot of different powerful emotions, and not because I want to humiliate you.
If I shout when you’re in the room, it doesn’t mean that I’m shouting at you.
If I’m sitting angry next to you, it doesn’t mean that I’m angry with you.
If I’m angry, it doesn’t necessarily mean that I will be aggressive towards you or try to hurt you. Sometimes, it’s enough for me to just get my anger out of my in order to calm down.
If I’m angry with you, it doesn’t mean that I don’t have other kinds of feelings for you. If I’m angry, it doesn’t mean that I’m not grateful to you.
If I’m angry with you, it doesn’t necessarily mean that I want you to stop doing what made me angry with you. It doesn’t even mean that I expect you to change your behaviour.
If I’m angry, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re wrong about something and need to apologise. If I’m angry, it doesn’t mean that I utterly condemn you for what you’ve done or who you are.
If I’m angry right now, it doesn’t mean I will be angry forever. It’s something temporary, like all the different kinds of moods people have.
If I’m angry, it doesn’t mean that I’ve been brought up badly. It means that I listen to my feelings and that I know what I want.
If I’m angry with you, it doesn’t mean that I can’t overcome these feelings and hold you in my arms again. If I’m angry with you, it just means that I’m human.
If I’m angry with you, it doesn’t mean that I don’t love you.
