Resentment

The power of resentment is often overlooked or denied. Many people in the U.S. bury their resentment because it is socially taboo to discuss class or other differences in American society. Political leaders prey on this prejudice and rapidly slam the hammer down on any airing of class, race or economic resentment. Religious leaders do the same. Followers are chided from pulpits to stow away any resentment they may have about the conditions of their origins. God's Will is held up as the reason for the sources of pain, prejudice and poverty. This tells the resentful that God has decided they have deserved all the misery they resent.

All of this denial fuels more resentment. Resentment which goes denied and unprocessed throughout a life is an acid that wears away at the fibers of a life's condition. The defensive denial of the legitimate resentment of others does not help society in general. This has been amply demonstrated by truth and reconciliation processes after periods of atrocity and oppression. 

For centuries, political structures and religious structures have been contrived to oppress. Our current political structure in the U.S. is up for grabs between those who conservatively defend that legacy of oppression of the majority and those who would reform government through regulation to provide for general health and economic well being of the majority. Our society also grapples with the conflict between oppressive religiosity and freethinking. 

Many in the U.S. have good reason for resentment. Conscious resentment is a basis for political and social activism. Repressed resentment is a source of dysfunction and mental illness. Silencing resentment with politically correct speech or holier-than-thou impatience is counterproductive. Airing resentment is a first step to conflict resolution and turning poison of repressed resentment  into the medicine of motivation for change. I believe that as humanists, who work for human progress in general health and happiness, it is important for us to encourage those with resentment to acknowledge it and work through it, or work with it. By mining the pain of individual resentment, the motivation for individual change can often be found.