Tantrum

“What is the purpose of letting myself fly apart in reckless tantrums?” (ODAT, 16 August)

Tantrums can occur not just internally or in close personal relationships; they can also occur in public settings, within the fellowship, in the community, and in society, online or in person.

Such public acting out might be coated with a veneer of apparent decorum and avoid the wild excesses of the toddler or brat, but the underlying emotion and imperiousness are the same. There is the same rage and the same attempt to control.

Even when I am right: being ‘right’ does not justify the tantrum.

Everyone else having a tantrum does not justify the tantrum.

Such sanitised tantrums are just as reckless.