Temper, Temper.....Has your temper ever gotten you into trouble??

     I could give you 2000 words on this topic, but you wouldn't wanna read all that...so I'll keep it under 500.  I will try to give some insight, and get a smile doing it, but this one is pretty serious. It is true, nothing made up for the sake of a contradictory essay (would I do that??). I assume there is a statute of limitations on physical injury, but in case there isn't, I can't give any details.
      I have been told that I have a “hot temper”.  You don’t hear that term used a lot these days, what with all the so-called “experts” out there that have a pidgeon-hole definition for everything, but it is pretty accurate for me.  
     When I was a kid, my temper could cause the occasional “issue” for me.  All the other kids, as I saw it, were out to get me. They wouldn’t let the fat kid with the thick glasses (little Scotty) play. I never got invited to anything. No JR high parties.  Nothing.  They laughed at me, called me names. I got "broken hearted", then I got  angry. My parents tried really hard to teach me anger management techniques, or to turn the other cheek and ignore my tormentors. I really tried.  Later, there were the bullies.  And the “Jocks”.  Both trying to prove all the time how much better than me they were. I tried to get along and not “put these people in their place”.  I remembered my Bible lessons. I would “turn the other cheek”.  And they would punch me there too.  Literally. It hurt, and it was embarrassing.  
     Here’s where the temper came in.  We all have a breaking point, and you never knew when I would reach mine.  Sooner or later, all that pain (whether perceived or physical) would reach a boiling point in my mind. Any slight, or any violence, directed toward me would result in all that pent up anger being released, all at once, verbally and most probably physically.  To the observer, it would look like I was a merciless bully beating the tar out of someone.  In reality, they were getting the beat down they deserved.  They were getting paid back for 100 punches of the past.  1000 insults. 
     The sad part is, I always got all the blame. Nobody stopped the “better than you” cruelty. Nobody ever tried to stop the bullies.  But let me fight back, and you would think I kidnapped the Lindbergh baby. 
     I realize now that even though I felt those people deserved retribution, they didn’t deserve hospitalization.  I have worked very hard all my life to control outbursts like that. I haven’t punched another man for 30 or more years.  Dealing with my temper is a life-long struggle for me,  but no matter how grouchy I seem sometimes, trust me, I am winning the struggle.