By Francis J. Kong
(The Philippine Star)
Updated February 04, 2012
What does it take to turn a person into a Judas? What motivates someone to betray deep-seated loyalties?
Unresolved anger and resentment, for one. Take FBI agent-turned-Soviet spy Earl Pitts for instance.
According to a Newsweek
article by Evan Thomas, Pitts was raised on a farm in Missouri and was
recognized as a future farmer of America. His parents disciplined him
firmly but fairly. He was a captain in the army and regarded himself a
patriot. Even today, his wife describes him as a “good man”.
So what happened?
In 1983, after getting his law degree and serving as a military
policeman for six years, Pitts realized a lifelong ambition – he went
to work for the FBI. In 1987, he was assigned to the New York office, and there his troubles began.
Pitts did not see how he could afford to live in the Big Apple on
his $25,000 a year salary. Also, morale in the office was poor, and
petty cheating on expense accounts was rampant. Meanwhile, burdened
with student loans debt, Pitts had to ask his father for a loan. Thomas
wrote, “Pitts later told a psychiatrist that he was ‘overwhelmed’ by a
sense of rage at the FBI.”
Pitts then came up with the idea of spying for the KGB to kill two
birds with one stone: solve his money problems and get even with his
bosses. He later told a psychiatrist, “I was shoved by the bureaucracy,
and I shoved back.”
Over the next seven years, Pitts worked as a Soviet spy and received
$224,000 for his services. When he was finally caught and convicted,
the judge sentenced him to 27 years in prison. When the judge asked
point-blank why he had become a traitor, Pitts replied, “I gave in to
an unreasonable anger.”
Guess how many business executives have sabotaged their career just
because of uncontrolled anger? Guess how many people have resigned from
their job despite the good pay and prospects for promotions just because they couldn’t contain their anger?
Shirley Belleranti tells about the negative impact of anger on our most important relationships:
“I remember one summer day when my 10-year-old son and a friend were
getting a pitcher of lemonade from the refrigerator. I’d spent hours
that morning scrubbing, waxing, and polishing the kitchen floor, so I
warned the boys not to spill anything. They tried so hard to be careful
that they innocently bumped a tray of eggs on the door shelf. Of course, it fell, splattering eggs all over my clean floor.
“The boys’ eyes widened with alarm as I exploded angrily. “Get out
of here now!” I shouted, while they headed for the door. By the time
I’d finished cleaning up the mess, I had calmed down. To make amends, I
set a tray of cookies on the table, along with the pitcher of lemonade
and some glasses. But when I called the boys, there was no answer –
they’d gone somewhere else to play, somewhere where my angry voice
wouldn’t reach them.”
Anger separates us from those we want to be near. It shatters intimacy.
Never allow anger to fester. Deal with it as God prescribes. And the
Bible says not to let the sun go down on it. The Bible has that to say
because the author knows the stuff we are made of (we tend to nurture
resentment in our heart).
I sure appreciate the truth that God does not blow His top the way I
do. We all should remember that anger is an expensive luxury. We simply
can’t afford it.
God has given us a mind to use. We need to use that mind to educate our moods.
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