The Power of Steam
Last week, a steam pipe exploded 7 blocks from my home. It tore up a portion of the street, caused the evacuation of dozens of buildings, displaced residents, shuttered businesses, and unleashed toxic asbestos into the air. Some of the streets are still closed as Con Edison cleans off the buildings and repairs the damage to the pipe and streets.
The Force of Steam
Over 100 miles of steam pipes run under New York City’s streets. It is the biggest steam system in the world.
The pipes that carry it underground are old. The steam system was first created in the 1880s, and many of the pipes date to the early 1900s. It was built at a time before massive cars, busses, and trucks pounded the streets above them.
For the most part, these pipes hold up. They are effective at containing the steam and transporting it to the many constructive uses it serves.
As a Constructive Force
Steam has many constructive uses. It powers the heating and cooling of 2,000 buildings. It is used to sterilize hospital equipment, in dry cleaning facilities, and to clean dishes in restaurants.
This great video shows the steam system’s role in daily life in NYC.
As a Destructive Force
When something happens to disrupt this system, a steam pipe explodes. And then we see the destructive side of steam.
In 2007, a steam pipe explosion near Grand Central Terminal, killed one person and injured 20. The explosion brought back memories of 9/11. Prior to that was the 1989 explosion in Gramercy Park, which killed 3 and injured dozens more.
Properly channelled and contained, steam is a constructive force. Agitated and unleashed, steam causes chaos and destruction to streets, buildings, and lives.
Anger is the same.
The Force of Anger
When we know how to work with anger, we can use it to constructive and productive ends.
As a Constructive Force
After we consciously experience and feel our anger, we can emerge on the other side with stronger boundaries and broader perspective.
The pain of anger can be a strong catalyst for change and a fuel for justice. Anger has sparked some of history’s greatest movements. It is a threshold that we must cross in our journey to implement higher standards.
Nobody would say that steam is bad. When properly channeled, steam is productive and useful. So too with anger. When given space, anger is a productive emotion.
As a Destructive Force
Many of us learned at some point in life that it’s not ok to feel anger. People who express anger make us uncomfortable. Of all the taboo emotions, anger is the most taboo.
As a result of this conditioning, many of us learn to suppress anger. Suppressed anger becomes like steam trapped in old pipes. Eventually, forces of nature and life agitate those pipes. And then, like the steam, it explodes through the surface, destroying whatever lies in its wake. Anger can destroy our bodies, our lives, and the lives of others. destroys
Just like a steam pipe explosion sprays mud, asphalt, and toxic asbestos into the air, an explosion of anger unleashes other toxicity into the environment. It doesn’t just destroy the life and body of the one who carries it. Whether that anger erupts in a torrent of words or bullets, fires or bombs, it leaves destruction in its wake: of land, of people, of lives.
Where Are We Investing?
More people have been killed by anger explosions than steam pipe explosions. We invest resources to properly channel steam to its constructive uses.
We don’t invest the same resources to teach people how to channel their anger towards constructive ends.
Maybe that needs to change.
[…] their anger. Unexpressed and unexamined anger has no place to go until it boils over into rage or explodes in a firey […]