Grouchy Grizzly 3
The Zohar teaches that when one slanders a fellow human, one not only forfeits one's Divine aura, but acquires a spiritual stench of impurity as well...
We continue with our story of Grouchy Grizzly as we explore how anger can destroy the quality of our lives.
Isaac patted the bear on the head and climbed to his feet. The sun pierced a hole in the storm clouds, and within a few short minutes, the entire sky was a stunning royal blue. The bear closed his eyes and fell asleep. Isaac and Jerry tiptoed out of the cave into the fresh mountain air and into the sunshine.
Jerry gave a sigh of relief that made his whole body shudder.
Isaac smiled his warm, understanding smile. He appeared as nonchalant as someone who just finished drinking coffee with the next-door neighbor.
Don't think the story of Isaac and the grizzly is so far-fetched. I'll give you another very practical example. The Zohar teaches that when one slanders a fellow human, one not only forfeits one's Divine aura, but acquires a spiritual stench of impurity as well. That particular stench arouses the wrath of dogs, with their keen sense of smell. I once saw a dog in a crowded train station that attacked a certain person. Why was that particular person, out of a crowd of hundreds, the object of the dog's fury? Chances are that that person slandered his fellow man earlier the same day.
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Like all angry critters, Grouchy Grizzly is a hypocrite with a double standard. An intruder to his cave, unless accompanied by an Old Isaac, is in grave danger.
If you happen to be picking wild berries, and at that particular moment, Grouchy Grizzly decides that berries are chef's suggestion of the day, he'll attack.
Grizzlies, like angry humans, are so self-centered that they think the entire world belongs to them.
A fisherman once pulled a beautiful four-pound trout out of a mountain lake, within smelling range of a grizzly. The bear thundered down the mountain like a steaming locomotive. The startled fisherman abandoned both the fish and his gear, and raced up the nearest tree faster than the most agile of squirrels. The grizzly ate a lunch of "poached" trout, at the expense of the fisherman who returned from his outing looking ten years older.
Don't think that grizzlies are limited to the Rocky Mountains or to the city zoo. Unfortunately, you've probably encountered plenty of grizzly-like humans on the roads. Today, road rage is a dangerous national problem. Almost half of the fatal accidents that kill 41,000 Americans[1] annually in road accidents can be traced to road rage[2].
A closer look at the abovementioned statistics reveal a startling fact: Anger on the road kills more Americans than combat duty in Baghdad or Kabul! During the 13-month period of November, 2003 – November 2004, 789 Americans lost their lives in Iraq. Yet, an estimated 20,000 Americans lost their lives as a result of road rage.
Who would believe that a U.S. Marine in Iraq might actually be more secure than a metropolitan rush-hour motorist on the way home from work? True, a lot more people can be found on the turnpikes than on combat duty in the Middle East, yet society has seemingly become desensitized by anger on the roads. Did you ever hear of a White-House demonstration protesting road rage? How many people realize that anger on the roads kills twenty times more Americans than the war in Iraq?!
4 Important Tips for Avoiding Road Rage
1. Keep right except to pass. Don't speed up or slow down when other drivers want to pass. Let them by.
2. Be courteous. Let other drivers merge and exit. Use your turn signal BEFORE initiating turns or lane changes.
3. Don't take other drivers' mistakes personally.
4. If you make a mistake, say you are sorry. Use a conciliatory gesture such as a wave or peace sign to acknowledge your error.
Many of us have had unpleasant experiences with bullish, irate drivers who try to muscle on the parking place that we've just found after arduous searching. Such people remind me of grizzly bears stealing a fisherman's trout. My advice is to avoid conflict and let the tyrant have the space. Proving that you're right isn't worth losing your peace of mind over an argument.
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If the lion is the king of animals, honeybees are the kings of insects. Honeybees are industrious, cooperative, highly respectful of each other, and contrary to popular misinformation, very peace loving. A honeybee won't sting unless its life seems threatened. The hive and combs are the home of nearly fifty thousand bees.
At this point, let's return to Lupine Valley.
All of the birds and the animals, as we mentioned previously, uphold the honor code of the Mount Patience vicinity, which includes preserving Lupine Valley and respecting the honeybees. Grouchy Grizzly blatantly ignores both clauses.
As you can see, there's no lack of food in the area. Grouchy Grizzly is certainly not underweight. Like other angry creatures, he is a slave to his urges, without considering the consequences. Around this time of the year, the aroma of fresh honey drives him crazy. He'll climb up a tree, topple a honeybee hive, and dive into the honey. That's the first shot of the annual bee-bear war.
The bees are furious – they've just now witnessed the destruction of their home. They attack Grouchy Grizzly from all sides. Most of the stings do nothing against the bear's thick hair and skin, but the stings on the tip of his round black nose incite his uncontrollable fury. The bees chase him and he chases the bees – from the forest, down the ridge, and all across Lupine Valley.
Down in the valley, the bees that have been busy collecting pollen from the flowers come to the aid of their cousins from the hive. Such a fiasco usually continues until the entire ten acres of lupines are trampled. Look at the toll of one selfish, angry bear that cares about nothing except for his own base appetites. The area of Grouchy Grizzly's anger looks identical to the path of an Oklahoma twister.
Do you think angry grizzly bears are dangerous? How many people do grizzlies kill every year? One? Maybe two? Certainly no more. Angry humans are much more harmful – to themselves as well as to others, as we are about to see.
To be continued . . .
(The Trail to Tranquility is available in the Breslev Store.)
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[1] NHTSA statistics, 1996-2000
[2] Washington Beltway Study, "Analysis of the Capital Beltway Crash Problem", March 1996
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