The Butterfly Effect

I must have been about 8 years old when, with my mother's encouragement, I started a butterfly collection. Not live butterflies, but butterflies that I captured and I guess executed. I don't remember exactly, but it wasn't like there was a surplus of dead butterflies lying around with which to start a collection.
I pinned these butterflies to a board, but I must say it lacked elegance. why my mother thought dead butterflies on a board would be a worthwhile endeavor for an 8-year-old escapes me. One day, to my chagrin, I found my butterfly collection in tatters. Turns out it met its demise at the hands of my oldest brother, who, when I confronted him, simply said that yes, he had destroyed my butterfly collection.
I didn't grasp his motivation at the time, but in subsequent years I think I've come to understand. I don't think butterflies typically elicit hostility, but, in his case, they triggered something in his psyche, manifested in a destructive outburst tinged with rage.
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I awoke last night in the middle of the night recalling my own rage and my mother's suggested remedial technique: pound the shit out of a board with a hammer. So that's what I did sometimes when I got home, if I wasn't playing basketball. Basketball or board beating? It depended on the day.
Imagine the neighbors' reaction if they had seen me, at about 9 or 10 or whatever, beating a board with a hammer. At first they probably would have thought I was retarded. Then they probably would have locked the doors in fear of the serial killer in the making. Mom's other suggestion was that I go into the bathroom and scream, which likely would have elicited a similar reaction had witnesses existed.
So, having identified that her baby festered with rage, my mother offered less-than-sophisticated solutions. When I went to a psychologist, partially on her dime, she badgered me to such an extent that I eventually stopped. I imagine she figured a good board beating held just as much benefit. I didn't revisit that stress-alleviation technique, but I suspect it would have worked about as well as it did the first time.