Remaining Calm in an Angry World: How Some Cope
Travis Bowers of San Antonio had his Sunday all planned out. He and his two daughters, ages 2 and 4, loaded up in the family car and made their way to a local restaurant to pick up an order of chicken wings. The plan was to be back home in time to watch a football game and enjoy the rest of their afternoon.
What was supposed to be a calm and relaxing Sunday quickly turned into a dangerous situation for Bowers and his daughters.
Shortly after arriving at the restaurant, a verbal altercation between three men escalated into a physical fight, just a few feet from where Bowers and his two daughters sat as they waited for their order.
Fearing for their safety, Bowers quickly grabbed his two daughters and ran towards the back of the restaurant, just as
two of the men crashed into and smashed the table where they had been sitting.
“If I had been sitting there with my girls, we would have been hit,” Bowers recalled.
As the fight turned into an all-out brawl, one of the men reached for a gun he had concealed on his waistband, but after other bystanders pleaded for him to put the gun away, no shots were fired. The other two men involved in the fight ran off, and after ensuring it was safe, Bowers picked up his daughters and quickly left.
Thinking back to that incident and comparing it to the current state of the world, “Every year it progressively gets worse,” Bowers said when describing how it appears people have shown more aggression over the years.
In fact, a Gallup poll found higher levels of stress, sadness, anger, and worry in 2020 than ever before at any point in the organization’s global tracking.
“Because of the pandemic, people are so frustrated that one little thing can set them off,” said Bowers.
Whether victim or observer, an encounter with aggressive or angry behavior can catch anyone off guard. Experts say remaining calm is key to ensuring that a precarious situation does not escalate. Anger management expert Ryan Martin’s advice in Psychology Today was, “Stay calm, stay safe, and don’t make it worse.”
Bowers defuses such situations by remembering the Bible principles he has learned as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. “The Bible urges us to pursue peace,” said Bowers. “If you react mildly in situations, it can tone down the aggressiveness of others.”
After the incident in the restaurant, once Bowers and his daughters were safely back in their car, he consoled them. As he explained to his daughters that the actions they saw were not appropriate, he told them, “One of the things Jehovah has taught us is that a mild response can turn away rage. So, we don’t ever act that way.”
When stressful situations arise, Bowers said that resources from jw.org, the official website of Jehovah’s Witnesses, have been particularly useful for him and his family in dealing with stress and remaining calm.
“The fact that I have a good relationship with God and let him teach me is why I reacted calmly in the spur of the moment,” he said.
