"And then he said....."

Who hasn't felt the pent up, about to explode feeling? Who hasn't felt the need to let it all out to friends, family, strangers in the grocery line, or telemarketers?
"How am I? I'll tell you how I am!"

And afterwards, we are supposed to feel good again, right? The letting off of a bit of steam- or a lot- just allows those feelings to go away, right? Apparently, maybe not so much.

MSNBC

According to some research venting might not be the cure for mending our broken hearts, stress filled heads or oh-he's-done-me-wrongs. Dwelling on the negative does not appear to be a postive. We spend all of our time concentrating on what we did wrong, what they should have done and its just not fair. All of those insecurities and doubts just seem confirmed by excessive venting because at some point venting becomes obsession. We begin to go over the same events and conversations over and over, ruminating on them and continuously cycling through should haves and could haves. In short, we took a good thing in moderation and over did.

Its hard not to, really. After all, we've been insulted and just plain done wrong! The other party is clearly, clearly in the wrong. And they never liked us anyway. And they dress poorly. And they smell funny.

Familiar?

If you're a member in even moderate standing of the Episcopal Church USA, then it ought to be. We've been bombarded from left and right. The conservatives are rude, bigotted and skismatics. The liberals are loudmouths and, well, liberal! Each side is constantly venting at us through media, internet blogs and even pulpits. We are in the middle of two parties talking too quickly and too loudly to listen. Not to eachother and certainly not to themselves. Each side has painted the other in colors too dark and attitudes to bilious to be believed. Where once there was tolerance, now there is only two backs turned towards eachother.

And the people left in the middle. Where once there existed a fulcrum between the two sides, now there is nothing. Or perhaps it is still there, waiting for the extremes to acknowledge it once again. I fear for ourselves and for many in our country. We have become so polarized of late. Where once compromise was considered a good outcome of debate now its a four letter word. I fear that in our course of venting, we have only succeeding in becoming obsessed.