Having a Kanipshun

When Doug the lug blows a pea shooter at Crandle and it goes splat on his sleeve, he is grossed out and irritated.  When Crandle goes into class and Doug hocks some more pea shot loogies at the teacher's sleeve when she is not looking, he is shocked!  When the teacher turns around and sends Crandle to the office thinking he did it, he is angry.  When he goes to recess and the whole class makes fun of him for this, he looses his top and has a kanipshun! Crandle could feel his blood pressure rising. He could feel the tears well up. He could think of about 59 things that he wanted to say to the kids on the playground at that moment, yet not one of them would change his situation.

He thought about blaming, yelling, justifying, screaming, crying, or just being plain ugly right then and there. But instead he took a deep breath. He seriously hoped he could gather up enough calmness to restrain his tongue and his emotions in that moment, and asked Doug if he would like to play something else besides pea shooting. But, Doug just laughed at him.  That was the last straw!

As he stood there on the playground having so many different thoughts swirling through his mind and words of anger sitting on the tip of his tongue, he did it.  He cut off Eileen McNair's hair.  Her beautiful ponytail of hair everyone thought was so fair.  Then he went inside and through a chair.  He wished the spirit deep within himself yielded him to stop, breathe, and be controlled in his actions and his words. He did not do it right this time, but he wished he always allowed himself to be led by his inner peaceful spirit when his emotions got out of control.

When our emotions threaten to overtake us, there is a place inside of us we can learn to depend on that can help us restrain ourselves. We can let our emotions swirl out of control, but most of the time it is not going to change the situation in front of us. If we don’t keep our angry emotions in check, it can lead to harsh words, bitterness, resentment, regret, shame, and guilt.  Crandle had to deal with all of these and make a lot of amends.

Did Crandle have a right to be angry? Maybe he did, but even in his anger, there was a place inside of himself he could learn to access that would help him refrain from doing the wrong thing. Emotions are a good thing. But emotions out of control can reap havoc.

Please read my illustrated book 'Cranky Crandle's Kanipshun Fit' to find out how Dr. Kich helps him deal with his anger.  This is what I think a kanipshun looks like, but my daughter thinks they should have two horns.  Hmmmm..... come to think of it that would fit right in with the expression "The devil made me do it."