17/07/2025

THURSDAY | JULY 17, 2025

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Not everything deserves your rage L AST week, we explored comedy in long-shot”. When we zoom in, everything feels urgent, personal and intense but when we step back even slightly, most things become manageable, even absurd. That is not dismissal; that is perspective. one of the simplest yet most powerful tools we can use. “When we begin to

boardrooms, community centres and correctional facilities. Emotional intelligence is not soft; it is critical. It is what allows us to lose an argument gracefully, disagree respectfully and say, “I need space” instead of “I hate you”. And if you find yourself consistently overwhelmed, do not face it alone. Rage is often the tip of something deeper – grief, fear, shame or fatigue. Whether it is a therapist, a support group, a mental health professional or someone you trust – reach out. Seeking help does not make you weak; it means you care enough to break the pattern before it breaks you. This is not about perfection. We will all have bad days. We will all be triggered but what matters most is how we return to ourselves and how we choose to respond. So, the next time someone cuts into your lane, interrupts you mid-sentence or pushes just the right button – pause and ask yourself: “Is this really worth it?” Because most of the time, it isn’t. And not everything deserves your rage. DrPraveena Rajendra is a certified mental health and awareness practitioner specialising in narcissistic abuse recovery. Comments: letters@thesundaily.com

WHATEVER else may be concluded about the shooting of Palestinian civilians at, or near, aid centres in Gaza, they do not suggest that sufficient humanitarian aid is being delivered in a timely and efficient manner. As has been widely proposed, a fully independent inquiry is needed before the claims and counterclaims about responsibility can be settled. For the time being, the efforts of the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) to replace the United Nations have proved to be utterly inadequate. That, of course, may turn out to be a wildly generous understatement if it is indeed proved that the Israel Defence Forces committed war crimes in these most pitiful and unforgivable of circumstances. From what can be discerned from the reportage, the verdict of the International Red Cross on the situation appears accurate – “worse than hell on earth”. It bears repeating that Israel, too, suffered its own atrocities on Oct 7, 2023 but its conduct of the war waged since has become increasingly indefensible, intolerable and counterproductive to its interests. It is a total catastrophe for all involved, most of all the vulnerable non-combatants. The death toll across three major incidents at GHF sites amounts to about 60 people, and each and every case must be properly investigated. The Red Cross – not Hamas – says that, for example, its medical teams emotional hijacks – those sudden bursts where logic disappears and we are swept away by raw emotion. The kind of moments where a minor inconvenience feels like a personal attack. Recently, I came across a fitting continuation of that conversation in theSun , aptly titled “Malaysia: Why so marah one?” The article touches on a real concern: how daily frustrations, if left unprocessed, can spill into aggression. From long queues to misbehaving pets to public sneezes, it is not the events themselves that are the problem; it is the emotional pressure already sitting inside us. The piece ends with a powerful call: start teaching emotional intelligence at schools so we can learn how to walk away from conflict rather than fuel it. That sentiment deeply resonates with what we have been exploring here, especially the part about humour. Sometimes, the most powerful thing we can do is laugh at ourselves. Charlie Chaplin once said, “Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up but a M I N D T B Y D R P R A V COMMENT

The next time something triggers you, try the following. Take a deep breath, count to five and ask yourself: Is this really about me? Is this situation attacking my safety or just my pride? Is this the version of me I want to show up as? Those five seconds can stop a conversation from turning into a confrontation. They can protect your peace, even save a life because, sadly, not everyone gets that moment to pause. Our prisons are filled with individuals who did not have the tools or the time to regulate that one intense moment – a heated exchange, a raised voice, a punch thrown in a flash of emotion. One second of unchecked anger and now they live with consequences that stretch for years. This is not to excuse what has been done but to understand how much can be prevented. If we cannot stay grounded during the small, everyday frustrations, how will we ever hold steady when life throws us something bigger? That is why conversations about emotional literacy need to move beyond mental health talks and motivational seminars. These lessons belong in every space: schools, homes,

believe that everything must revolve around us, we unintentionally hand over our peace to the smallest provocations. A delay becomes an insult and silence becomes an attack.

Perspective is also what helps us realise that not everything is about us. That stranger who did not say thank

you? Likely distracted. The friend who took too long to reply? Probably over whelmed. But our minds turn these into stories of rejection and disrespect. And then we give in to that familiar voice – “How dare they?” When we begin to believe that D

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everything must revolve around us, we unintentionally hand over our peace to the smallest provocations. A delay becomes an insult and silence becomes an attack. We elevate our importance to the point where every interaction feels like a referendum on our worth. This is not confidence; this is fragility dressed as self-importance. Which is why regulating anger is not about becoming emotionless; it is about learning to pause before responding. The five-second rule is

There are countless Palestinians far from even a GHF base, with no hospital facilities to speak of, and still under constant bombardment. They cannot all be terrorists and they cannot be dismissed as mere inevitable collateral damage. – REUTERSPIC

Starvation of Gaza is a manmade catastrophe that shames us all

in Rafah treated 184 patients, including 19 people dead on arrival and eight others who died of their wounds shortly afterwards. This represents the highest figure for casualties from a single incident at the field hospital since it was established last year. And, of course, there are countless Palestinians far from even a GHF base, with no hospital facilities to speak of, and still under constant bombardment. They cannot all be terrorists and they cannot be dismissed as mere inevitable collateral damage. These are human lives, and as the universal phrase goes, they matter. In due course, a more comprehensive accounting for the actions of the Israeli authorities will also have to be made, taking full account of the terrorist threat they face but not thereby absolving Israel’s government and its agencies for everything they have done. Israel’s friends and partners across the world as well as its own people cannot adopt a “Netanyahu right or wrong” approach, in which every single action and incident is justified by the Oct 7 massacres and kidnappings. Perhaps the most emphatic admission of failure by the GHF is that such operations as it has been undertaking – and they are grossly inadequate to the task – have been suspended. So, at least no Gazans will be shot trying to get their hands on food but they and their families will stay hungry – so hungry that

lost the chance to build peace with its neighbours and is less secure than it was before Oct 7, even if Iran is temporarily disarmed. At that time, it would have been inconceivable that Israel would stand accused at the International Criminal Court of such grievous atrocities, that more of its European allies would recognise the Palestinian state or that they would be openly discussing arms embargoes and sanctions. Since Oct 7, Netanyahu has played into the hands of Hamas, who wished for nothing more than for Israel to lash out, provoke Arab and Muslim opinion, outrage the West and become the perpetrator, not the victim of terror. All the goodwill that was shown rightly on Oct 7 has been squandered. In other words, it is in the interests of Israel itself to cease the fighting and allow the aid to come through to what the UN calls “the hungriest place on Earth”. But who can and who will make Netanyahu see sense? – The Independent

existence, principally shelter. It is not, in that sense, the kind of hopeless, overbearing situation that follows some environmental disaster – a flood, a terrible hurricane or a drought. This is a manmade catastrophe and could be stopped in short order with the political will to do so. Such political will does not exist within the Israeli government. One reason why the war has gone on for as long as it has and with such pain and destruction is that it suits Benjamin Netanyahu’s domestic political interests. The secondary reason is that the US has acquiesced in much of what he does, which was true of the Joe Biden administration and is even more the case under Donald Trump. However, recent weeks have shown the limits to American forbearance and the failure of Netanyahu to stabilise the situation. Some of the hostages have still not been released and Hamas still operates, as it will even if every one of its leaders is eliminated. Israel has

malnutrition, especially of children among many thousands of people, and famine stalks the land. The Palestinians of Gaza, their homeland, face what the UN calls a “hunger crisis” and “critical famine risk”. The Israeli government knows this. The Arab states in the region know this. The whole world knows this. We see the television images of emaciated infants. Not even the White House can deny these realities. And yet nothing happens. We should be clear at least about how things will develop in this medieval-style siege if the world fails to pressure Israel into relenting and permitting the UN agencies and charities to resume their work immediately. For some, it is too late but for the living, it is never too late. The aid is waiting to pour into the territory and all parts of it, not just the cynically misnomered “safe zones”. To make the aid effort fully effective would mean a ceasefire and the restoration of medical facilities and the means for a civilised