I feel like I am constantly defending myself against the lies I propagate against myself. The most common of which is that I am an emotional robot. This both couldn’t be further from the truth and is exactly the truth.

In heated conversation my roommate questioned why I spend a majority of my day watching videos of people I disagree with. He said: “you do it just to make you angry.” Of course. What’s wrong with anger?

We as humans have so many emotions that we are allowed to feel. Why would we present a hierarchy of ones we should feel and ones we shouldn’t? So often we strive for happiness or contentedness or bliss or comfort or whatever bullshit word you want to describe your feeling of fitting in when anger, sadness, hopelessness, and frustration typically cause the greatest moments in history. Was Ghandi happy? Did MLK Jr. feel content? If they had looked for happiness in their lives they never would have acheived the amazing things they acheived.

I’m not advocating a society of murderous yelling instigators of argument, but rather an understanding that in order to live a full life you must feel the full range of emotions. The key is to understand that they are all fleeting and we, as humans, also have the power to move on quickly, but moving on does not mean not feeling. It simply means not dwelling.