Last week, as I drove down a Maple Ridge side street, a late model sedan raced out of a driveway. The driver, a middle-aged man, looked right, but not left, and I felt sure he hadn’t seen me.
In that instant, I beeped my horn. I swerved and he screeched to a halt, the front of his car a couple of feet into the road.
Accident averted.
Moments of inattention happen.
I drove on.
I wasn’t expecting what happened next. After the next intersection, the sedan roared up behind me, weaving back and forth, and filling my rear-view mirror. Scowling and red-faced, the man gestured.
The oncoming traffic was relatively heavy, and there wasn’t anywhere to pull over and let him pass, though I wasn’t sure it was a good idea anyway. What if he stopped, too? I kept my speed steady and hoped he’d calm down.
Instead, he waited for a far-too-narrow gap in the on-coming traffic and pulled out to pass. I slowed down as much as I could once he was alongside me and he narrowly missed causing an oncoming accident. He sped out of sight.
It all happened quickly and I didn’t get his license plate number.
The incident left me shaken. It was the third time I’d witnessed road rage this summer, not to mention at least a dozen examples of aggressive driving.
Beyond the roadways, I’m noticing a significant increase in public displays of anger over inconveniences and disagreements, many of them minor. More and more, individuals and groups are resorting to doomsday rhetoric and demonization of anyone who questions or opposes their views.
Rage is all around us – on-line, in the news, and our everyday lives. In growing numbers, simmering resentments and frustrations are erupting, spreading division and discord. It’s not confined to any one segment of society. Average people through to world leaders are allowing their anger to boil over into a rage.
I could go on.
In a world of unprecedented access to information, the irony is it can be extremely difficult to identify the underpinnings of issues or discover obvious paths to solve perceived problems. This constant threat-barrage triggers three instinctual responses: fear, passive surrender or angry resistance.
Information and technology are valuable tools, but they can be detrimental to understanding and empathy, both of which are essential if we want to keep society from devolving into chaos.
Civil society expects adults to have learned how to control their anger, and common sense tells us that division and discord is no basis for a civil society. It’s a circular frustration. Fear and surrender have their own consequences, and we are left with angry resistance.
Angry resistance is necessary, but it needs a channel or it can erupt in unproductive and even dangerous ways. Art is the answer for many who use it to explore and express their passions.
My artistic channel of choice is writing. Writing out my thoughts is an opportunity for both self-reflection and self-expression, whether I’m penning a political essay or crafting a story.
It’s an opportunity to clarify my thinking and, in a way, to have a conversation with myself. I completely agree with Eric Hoffer, a 20th Century philosopher, who said: “You learn as much by writing as you do by reading.”
There is both truth and humour in the adage among writers, “I write to know what I think.”
To write compelling fiction it’s necessary to immerse yourself in the point of view of your characters, the antagonists as well as the protagonists. There’s a lot to be learned when exploring the fact that everyone believes they are the hero of the story. This is true of the ‘bad guys’ as much as it is of the ‘good’ ones.
The immersive qualities of reading and writing fiction are shown to increase empathy and understanding.
There are a number of local organizations in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows that support emerging artists, including The ACT.
Katherine Wagner is a member of the Citizens’ Task Force on Transparency, a former school trustee and member
of Golden Ears Writers.