Snowballing

Tempers flared today. My friends are always fond of seeing violent outbreaks of testosterone (i.e. UFC) but I much more enjoy seeing restrained aggression. It’s a more subtle game where the battle is fought with wit, control, and finesse. Ironically, those whom I thought were the epitomes of optimism and maturity were the first ones to throw low verbal blows. And like the mature adults that they were, they quelled the issue, yet the rest of us were still quite shaken.

I wouldn’t blame either of them though. A couple of years ago, I came across an acute little cartoon entitled “Chain of Cruelty.” In it were forest animals, enthusiastically inflicting pain upon each echelon of the food chain below them, hence creating a downward chain of cruelty. It was hilarious as you can imagine, what with the whimsically drawn animals each with their comical houses in the woods. It also seemed a disturbingly satirical picture of the real world.

Like in any office, the top of the food chain is a lofty place indeed. And the power it begets is all too tempting. A push or shove here can magnify to a full-on jab or punch down the line, which is why the tempers flared to begin with. They tend to snowball with the help of gravity, accumulating strength and momentum on the way down.