from anger, confusion follows;
from confusion, weakness of memory;
weak memory – weak understanding;
weak understanding – ruin. [BG 2.63]

I started reading the Stephen Mitchell’s translation of the Bhagavad Gita with elephant journal’s Gita Talk project. I haven’t been as disciplined as I hoped on the project, am running behind, but can still access the comments and find others like me who also diving into this text, albeit virtually.

I was re-reading Chapter Two and this excerpt summed up how I feel about all the talking heads in a huff about Obama not showing anger over the BP Oil spill. I heard a very thoughtful comment on the radio the other day – that people seem more outraged over the stage managing of the response than the response. I think there is a misperception that lack of anger equals lack of empathy.

I voted for Obama for many reasons. One of the reasons being that he rose above the political theater that is American politics and presented a calm, collected, intellegent leadership. He thought about what he said and spoke like an adult rather than delivering empty titillating rhetoric meant to incite reaction instead of action.

I think this catastrophe is unfathomable for everyone. We are used to the crime being discovered, the bad guys cuffed, and the prison sentence handed out neatly within an hour of a Law & Order episode. We watch Dexter Morgan wait outside the prison to get that murderer who slipped through the system. We are used to seeing easy justice or the victim/survivors bravely walking on with good lighting and thoughtfully placed mascara streaks.

The world, unfortunately does not work like this. Especially when a response to a catastrophe like we have never seen before with no easy solution is tied up in so much red tape and emotion. We know this, of course, but part of us so desperately want Jack Bauer to swoop in and make it all better.

One thing that does happen in real life as it does in an episode of Law & Order or Dexter is that people make grave mistakes when they act out in anger. They get sloppy and confused – ruination gets further ruined when decisions are infued with unchecked anger.

The spill is overwhelmingly heartbreaking. I think everyone who has been saying for years, decades even, that the oil industry is crooked is tragically unsurprised and even more heartbroken. There are so many tangled webs of blame and pain to go around. So many steps that could have been taken to prevent it. It’s a failure of deregulation, greed, and engineering. So much of this has come together in an unbelievably painful catastrophe that is devastating already endangered environmental and cultural systems.

I, for one, feel reassured that Obama has not come out foaming at the mouth. I like what Frank Rich said in his Sunday column – Don’t Get Mad, Mr. President. Get Even..

I didn’t vote for someone who was going to be reactionary. I voted for someone who will make quick, yet informed, decisions and take responsibility for them. Am I 100% happy with the response? No. Do I give Obama an A+ on every single aspect of his Presidency? Of course not. I’m saying decisions made out of anger and emotion are the last things we need in executive leadership and that these calls for Obama to show anger are calls for a show, not action.

I would rather get bad news delivered and addressed like this:

Than this:

or for someone to make excuses and lie like this:

Obama tell me what is happening, the problems you have identified and how you are addressing them. Talk to me like an adult. Tell me the successes and failures without excuses. Ignore the talking heads and feel free to put them in their place every now and then. Channel your rage and anger into action – stay focused to avoid weakness and confusion. Be a warrior.

“I don’t sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar,” Mr. Obama told the show’s host, Matt Lauer, during an interview here, where the president was delivering a high school commencement speech. “We talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answer so I know whose ass to kick.”

It is going to be really, really bad for a really long time. Watching a president get angry like they do on television is not going to help the situation.

Final note: People, you can keep your Mission Accomplished or bullhorn at Ground Zero moment. I’ll take my president keeping his cool and getting shit mindfully done without wavering on holding BP accountable. The media should do the same thing and help us as a nation used to “an ap for that” to accept the fact that there is no easy way out of this. We are on the battlefield and need to make the right decisions at the right time.