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A friend of mine, Chris Williams, lost his wife and three children when their car was hit by an erratic teen driver. During such a tragedy, no one would have faulted him for carrying a grudge against the driver.
Instead of allowing us to move forward, grudges keep us stuck in the past, always keeping negative feelings fresh. Research has shown constantly thinking about a negative emotional experience can make us feel as if the experience happened "just yesterday"(1).
Did you miss this week's episode of the What's Essential podcast? Tune in to hear Joseph Grenny, one of the authors of the best-selling book Crucial Conversations, discuss how you can make it safe to talk to almost anyone about almost anything. Listen here.
So, it turns out that The Grudge, an extremely narrow building standing on a mere 120-square-meter piece of land, is actually the physical embodiment of a grudge between two brothers. Ironically, two slightly more loyal brothers, architects Salah and Fawzi Itani, built the thin house. While the facade, with its proportional windows and balconies, seems to be hiding a normal building, a look at one of the flanks reveals a different story: the building was constructed to serve as a wall, blocking what would have been a million-dollar view.
Hello, and thanks for being here. Today I'd like to introduce you to one of my grudges. I have amassed a modest collection, but I have chosen this particular grudge today because, in the vast universe of stupidity that is grudge-holding, this is the dumbest one I keep.
Many moons ago, I used to publish a blog called Pen in Hand for the purpose of sharing ink drawings and a bit of writing with a group of fellow sketchbook scribblers and anyone else who happened to see it.
That evening, I donned Important Earrings and grownup shoes and dragged my husband and daughters to a beautiful theater and dared to hope for a morsel of affirmation.
Seated a few rows back from the stage, my family and I had a good view of the MCs. One was a venerated personage in the arts community; the other was a writer who had crafted the script for the program.
Before the winner of each category was announced, the MCs shared a few lines of amusing banter and introduced the finalists. But for reasons I have never understood, what little they said about my blog sounded like it had been written by Don Rickles2. Nothing laudatory or kind or even descriptive about my blog was mentioned. Instead, the writer roasted me for adopting the name Pen in Hand for a web-based publication.
But I've never been much into Lenten sacrifice. When I was young, I just figured life was hard enough, so God made Snickers. And now, as a person who abstains from highly processed food for health and substance-abuse reasons, I'm even less inclined to relinquish small pleasures. For crying out loud, I haven't had a sandwich in five years. What more must I do?
Oh.
I have no problem believing that if God exists, He truly does not care whether I sacrifice some minor indulgence for six weeks, but also that He is probably tapping one sandaled foot impatiently waiting for me to give up grudges. Not just the one for the script writer, but the one for the girls who tricked me in fifth grade. And for the person who said something intensely thoughtless the day my brother died. And for the professor who accused me of not trying when I had been busting my butt.
Whenever I've tried to talk myself out of a grudge and into a more benevolent attitude toward someone who I believe harmed me, I've ended up on a full-blown bitterness bender. Once we start justifying our grudges, the reasons multiple in seconds. That is some dark magic.
Earlier this week I read a book in which the writer observed that envy, as uncomfortable as it is, can serve us if we see it as a sign that points toward our heart's desire. When we feel envious, it isn't really that we don't want good things for another person; it's that we fear it means we cannot have something we want for ourselves. The solution is to go get that something, not to wish it away for someone else.
My grudges are indicators, too. They point out times when I relied on the esteem of others to make up for what I haven't granted myself. They show me when I have over-served myself on self-pity and under-considered the humanity of the person on the other side.
And that humanity is so important to contemplate, even if that other person did, in fact, drop a proverbial cockroach in my punchbowl, say something outrageous or behave in way that might be described as unforgiveable. Even when we are deeply harmed, our grudges provide hints that it might be worth considering how the story could be told from another angle. What would that look like?
Whether for 40 days or 40 years, the best way to relinquish the indulgences that most tempt us is not by negotiating with them. It's by noticing that they don't serve us anymore and declaring a policy of Radical No.
1. No, I didn't miss an apostrophe. "Writers" here serves as an adjective. The sentence was not intended to describe an organization owned by writers. But feel free to read more on the intersection of such grammatical controversies and Taylor Swift.
2. For those of you born after, say, 1980, Don Rickles was an old-timey comedian and actor who, as Wikipedia puts it, "became known primarily for his insult comedy." I supposed some people enjoyed that sort of thing.
Pen in Hand was a humble entity, but it managed to gather a few readers. One year, the director of a local writers1 organization decided to put on an awards show, and Pen in Hand was \u2014 surprise! \u2014 nominated in the blog category. The director enthusiastically urged me to attend the ceremony, where Pen in Hand would be celebrated as one of three finalists for Best Blog.
That evening, I donned Important Earrings and grownup shoes and dragged my husband and daughters to a beautiful theater and dared to hope for a morsel of affirmation.
Seated a few rows back from the stage, my family and I had a good view of the MCs. One was a venerated personage in the arts community; the other was a writer who had crafted the script for the program.
The name might have been ridiculous had the blog not been dedicated to drawing. You know \u2014 with a pen in my hand. Which the writer would have known had he visited the blog, but of course he hadn't, nor had most of the audience. So, in front of a few hundred people including fellow writers and artists I respected, Pen in Hand was derided just before failing to win Best Blog. I didn't (much) care about not winning \u2014 the other finalists were friends who deserved accolades \u2014 but I was deeply embarrassed about how my work was presented to the audience that night.
These days I have what a chiropractor describes as the beginning of a dowager's hump, but that's a misnomer. It's my grudge hump. In a subdural pocket at the base of my neck, I store all my psychic maladies, including that anger I have carried for the script writer for too many years now. I take these things out on occasion to feed and water them with loving dedication. My actual house plants can only dream of being tended as lovingly as I tend my injuries. Precious. My precious.
But I've never been much into Lenten sacrifice. When I was young, I just figured life was hard enough, so God made Snickers. And now, as a person who abstains from highly processed food for health and substance-abuse reasons, I'm even less inclined to relinquish small pleasures. For crying out loud, I haven't had a sandwich in five years. What more must I do?
Oh.
And even if God does not exist, this practice of holding tight to petty injustices does not age well, if you know what I mean. It's a bad look \u2014 worse than turkey neck and crepe cleavage put together.
Grudges are Chinese handcuffs that become tighter the more one struggles with them. They're not responsive to reason. They don't lose potency through the retelling of the story \u2014 just the opposite! \u2014 nor do they dissolve of their own accord.
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