Getting bit right in the cliche

Anger really is like fire.

I always thought the typical literary descriptions of anger were so stupid. "Her blood boiled" or "His rage burned hotter than an exploding inferno." Whatever.

Of course, I don't get mad easily or often. But I did today. And realized for the first time that rage is exactly like fire.

Real rage, uncontrolled, can destroy everything in its path.

Anger that is righteous and contained can burn away a lot of superfluous garbage that didn't need to be there in the first place.

The last brushfire I worked as a newspaper reporter - the one back in December I posted pictures of - left those woods fresh and cleaned out. My mad, after it was resolved, left me feeling the same way.

Funny. The very cliches I despise always come back to bite me in the...