Anger. I wonder what use this emotion had in our lives, that it originated in our brains. Yes, it gives an adrenaline rush, and comes out of affronted pride, or perhaps sheer annoyance. But the fact is, when facing a superior being in strength, the predominant feeling in a normal human would be fear. All anger does is remove our tact and logical capabilities. I believe that if a person is angry enough, they can willingly fight a lion, even if they are not strong enough and don't have the slightest chance of winning or even surviving. 

What use is this emotion, whether in medieval times or the modern world? Perhaps it is in someway linked with pride and just as useless as that, I don't know. For pride means having a certain image of oneself, and a challenge to that assumption may invoke anger. Another curious thing is that anger is often directed at those perceived inferior to oneself. You can't be angry with your powerful boss, at least not in front of him. Or how a fly or ant biting us is annoying, but a snake bite provokes colossal fear rather than anger.

However, anger is also present during interaction with equals. Lets take the situation of a wrestler. Challenged by a weakling, he would probably laugh. Challenged by someone arguably stronger than him, he may have fear or show bravery, depending upon their inclination. But challenged by an equal, he would undeniably accept and be ready to fight, using anger to fuel his moves. Perhaps in this way, anger helped establish the hierarchy among our people, as said fight would prove who is superior/inferior, according to the medieval/instinctual scale.

But how does anger help us live?

Anger is a precursor to action, to change. It also induces forgetfulness. Someone angry at say, the injustice in the world, will remain fixated at that idea forever until something changes (which is unlikely). That anger can be used as fuel for action and change, although few actually do it, and it would die out eventually anyway. Strangely enough, anger could be the best way to focus. It is impossible to be angry at something and at the same time worry about your bills/dishes/life, unless you are angry at that. Try fighting with someone, and then changing the topic while they are still angry. Near impossible.

Like right now I am angry at this passage, unable to make sense out of anything. But I didn't remember my work for tomorrow while writing this, even though its relatively important. According to society and logic, what I am doing right now should be the least of my priorities. I should be working hard 'to help humanity and contribute towards a better world' and other trash. But confound it all, I refuse to accept this logic!! Why, cause I am angry!!! 

What do I care about humanity, when the world revolves around myself? No, it doesn't, but MY world does revolve around myself, doesn't it? Why shouldn't people be completely selfish and attend to their own needs and wants, when it is only they who will feel the effect of their actions? Even those charitable people, they only help others because it helps THEM. Would anyone ever help anyone else if they don't feel like it, if they are not benefited by it, whether monetarily or emotionally? Would a selfish man who despises the world ever donate to a poor beggar on the street, when his all-encompassing hatred includes that destitute being too? 

Capitalism has seeped into the roots of our minds, our brains, our very being. And we forget to realize that it didn't have to be this way. There was a time when the world didn't have the concepts of money and self-advancement. Yes, things were tough back then, but so they are even now. With machines and AI gaining the capabilities to take over every human job required, we fail to realize that we as a society must evolve too. We don't need this capitalism, which forces and motivates everyone to work and maximize real output. We shall have the resources for communism or a similar system, to simply share our plentiful resources for survival. We produce enough food to feed 10 billion, then why is malnutrition still a thing? And that output includes food from undeveloped land, not benefited by science and technology. A co-operative world is an absolute must for our survival as an advanced civilization in the long run. Or else we will just continue with our petty conflicts, fighting like tribals from different clans, while the Earth struggles with our burden.

I have gone off-topic, haven't I? I guess anger is a stupid emotion. It made me forget what I wanted to do in the first place. It is something that defies logic. It is a fuel for actionable change that is almost always wasted. But perhaps it is something that is needed, a part of the spirit of life, to remind us that we are living beings, not just some calm robot drones going about their petty tasks.