Oliver Anthony’s instant country hit, ‘Rich Men North of Richmond’, is a wrenching cry of despair, articulating the suffocating emotions that tens of millions in this country wake up to every single day. The sense that there is no hope for a better future, that we’re condemning our own children to a hamster wheel that spins a little faster each day, and that pays out a little less each day. This is debilitating despair, the kind that sends young men and women to the bottle or the needle or the gun. We know something is wrong, we know it is man-made, but most everyone cannot pin the blame on a single cause. This is the most maddening aspect of the despair that millions feel: the certainty that the cause of our despair is not an act of God, combined with the total inability to see the enemy. Everything appears to be getting worse. There is a socio-economic implosion occurring in slow motion, and almost no one appears to be doing anything about it. Both the Left and the Right are engaged in a cultural battle that appears increasingly ridiculous, as the base of both parties sinks further into a spiritual tar pit.
It’s important to express despair, to vent feelings of sadness and hopelessness. But it’s more important to let those feelings pass and evolve into purpose-fueled anger.
Anger gets a bad rap. We’re told from birth to not get angry, as if we have a choice. We’re made to feel ashamed of our anger, usually by people enfeebled by despair. But anger is powerful. It gives us energy and drive, it centers our attention. It cleanses every other emotion from our mind. Anger gives us the energy to stand up for ourselves, to make our own decisions.
The book, Ender’s Shadow, expounds on the difference between cold anger and hot anger. I think it’s one of the most insightful things I’ve ever read.
People in the possession of ‘cold’ anger solve problems and move with purpose. People overcome with despair shrink from the world.
Despair robs us of energy and agency. Anger restores it. When the poor men south of Richmond rediscover their anger, maybe they will save the lives of the tens of millions just like Anthony.
