I suppose you might wonder about the title of this blog. The Angry Gnome? Say what?
I chose this title after talking with a coworker, Tom Byrd, one day. He was looking at a photo of me standing on top of Moro Rock in Sequoia National Park and made a little red pointed hat out of paper and stuck it on the computer monitor. "Watch out for the angry gnome" he said.
Here is the photo, you'll just have to visualize the red hat because I don't do photo-shop things:
Well, after that conversation I thought about starting up this blog as a replacement for my regular one. But that still doesn't explain the Angry part of the name. Anyone who doesn't know me would have no problem with the Gnome part, just look at the photo! :-) But the Angry part? Well, I am sad to say that the Angry part is due to my day to day behavior. :-(
Somehow I have gained a reputation for being somewhat "prickly." Even when I'm trying my hardest to be nice I come across as quite harsh. I recognize this in myself but have not been able to shift my speech and manner very far toward the gentle side of things.
So I am the Angry Gnome, mostly to remind me to think about how I'm presenting myself to the world.
Anger is not always a sin. That being said, anger is almost always a sin. The only time it is not a sin is when it is on behalf of another, righteous anger. Sadly, that is not the sort of anger that I exhibit 99.9% of the time. No, what I show is simply ill-tempered crotchetiness. Like last night on the way home from work I encountered a swarm of tourists at the entrance to the train station. They were unfamiliar with the system and were sort of milling about in confusion. My reaction was anger that they were delaying me when I was running a shade late, I was afraid they would make me miss my train. I wove through the crowd in a huff, muttering things about stupid tourists, and dashed down to the platform where I caught my train with seconds to spare. Still flush from my encounter above I entered the train and there I saw a mother and young daughter spread out over 4 seats, toys and purses blocking the seats next to them. I gave out a loud and disgusted sigh and glared at them, thinking in my mind of all the cutting things I could say to them, "Did you pay for 4 seats you jerk?" for example. The thing is, there were dozens of perfectly good empty seats all around that I could, and did, sit in. They caused no harm to anyone, and actually moved their things after I huffed at them.
All that is to explain where I'm coming from here with the Angry Gnome. I doubt my nature will change all that much, sure I hope that I will gain on the issue, but this side of heaven I will, without doubt, continue to battle this sin.
So I'll be writing down my thoughts here, sometimes angry and sometimes not, but always, due to the title, I'll have a reminder to keep my anger in bounds. Or so I hope.
OK, to be totally honest, mostly I just think "The Angry Gnome" is an amusing name and everything else I said is just an excuse to use it :-)
I chose this title after talking with a coworker, Tom Byrd, one day. He was looking at a photo of me standing on top of Moro Rock in Sequoia National Park and made a little red pointed hat out of paper and stuck it on the computer monitor. "Watch out for the angry gnome" he said.
Here is the photo, you'll just have to visualize the red hat because I don't do photo-shop things:
Well, after that conversation I thought about starting up this blog as a replacement for my regular one. But that still doesn't explain the Angry part of the name. Anyone who doesn't know me would have no problem with the Gnome part, just look at the photo! :-) But the Angry part? Well, I am sad to say that the Angry part is due to my day to day behavior. :-(Somehow I have gained a reputation for being somewhat "prickly." Even when I'm trying my hardest to be nice I come across as quite harsh. I recognize this in myself but have not been able to shift my speech and manner very far toward the gentle side of things.
So I am the Angry Gnome, mostly to remind me to think about how I'm presenting myself to the world.
Anger is not always a sin. That being said, anger is almost always a sin. The only time it is not a sin is when it is on behalf of another, righteous anger. Sadly, that is not the sort of anger that I exhibit 99.9% of the time. No, what I show is simply ill-tempered crotchetiness. Like last night on the way home from work I encountered a swarm of tourists at the entrance to the train station. They were unfamiliar with the system and were sort of milling about in confusion. My reaction was anger that they were delaying me when I was running a shade late, I was afraid they would make me miss my train. I wove through the crowd in a huff, muttering things about stupid tourists, and dashed down to the platform where I caught my train with seconds to spare. Still flush from my encounter above I entered the train and there I saw a mother and young daughter spread out over 4 seats, toys and purses blocking the seats next to them. I gave out a loud and disgusted sigh and glared at them, thinking in my mind of all the cutting things I could say to them, "Did you pay for 4 seats you jerk?" for example. The thing is, there were dozens of perfectly good empty seats all around that I could, and did, sit in. They caused no harm to anyone, and actually moved their things after I huffed at them.
All that is to explain where I'm coming from here with the Angry Gnome. I doubt my nature will change all that much, sure I hope that I will gain on the issue, but this side of heaven I will, without doubt, continue to battle this sin.
So I'll be writing down my thoughts here, sometimes angry and sometimes not, but always, due to the title, I'll have a reminder to keep my anger in bounds. Or so I hope.
OK, to be totally honest, mostly I just think "The Angry Gnome" is an amusing name and everything else I said is just an excuse to use it :-)
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