Response

Revenge 

Some things in the world can be easily defined.  We learn to associate certain actions and thoughts with emotion and memory.  We easily recognize these and form connections.  For example, the warm safe feeling or the butterflies in our belly are what we define as love.  And the deep churning and bitter taste we feel is what we classify as hate.  But our human emotions change rapidly and are very unstable.  Too often we know the story how something so good went down in a hurry; but what about the left over feelings that come along?  There’s only so much sadness we can harbor until it changes us.  While there are a lucky few of us who move on and truly embrace the “live and let go” saying.  The majority of us tank into a seemingly never ending well of sadness while others let anger fester inside.  The anger we feel; we just want release, something to take away the anger that’s been harvesting within us for so long.  This is generally when we seek to settle the score or get even.  Today we have labeled this desire, revenge.  But what is revenge?  In Ancient Rome, they had an “eye for an eye” society.  Simply put, if you cut off a man’s arm, kiss your own arm good bye because it’s as good as gone.  Today we muddle things together, creating a lot of grey area for us to sift through.  This opens up my questions, what is revenge, how does it affect us, and is it healthy? 

            We’ve all been wronged, it happens to us all.  But what do we do about it?  Is it okay to seek out some payment for our sorrows?  If you believe it is, how do you go about it?  In the movies and books, we see the gorgeous heartbroken girl sabotage her hunky ex-boyfriend’s new relationship out of spite for her pain.  Well, we see something along those lines.  I believe that is a fair example of revenge.  For our entertainment, this revenge may be empowering or hilarious but think about real life.  Is revenge really all it’s cracked up to be?  If I were to ask random people what revenge is, what do you think they would say?  Perhaps some would say unnecessary but others might use adjectives like compelling, passionate, closure, necessary.  Is this true?  We all have our own opinions about this and that’s okay, but now let me get down to the matter at hand and tell you my actual opinion.  Call me weird, and tell me I’m not a normal teenager, that’s okay, but I do not believe revenge is necessary.  Revenge is taking something that is out of our control and attempting to make everything okay.  Here lies the problem, who decides when it’s okay again?  Revenge is this sick cycle.   It’s like this person A hurts person B.  Person B takes revenge and harms person A’s reputation.  Now person A feels wronged and wants all to be fair too.  Do you think this sits well with person B?  Of course not, but who will be willing to stop? 

Revenge is damaging.  It sits inside us and we crave it until we do something to satisfy and justify ourselves.  Is it possible that because we seek revenge for so long that it becomes a habit?  I believe it can and instead of letting go we learn to live with this desire and this sense of wounded pride that needs to be fixed.  We constantly adapt and change our behavior with the introduction of new thoughts and actions.  So if revenge is there long enough, what’s to stop it from becoming a habit?  It could very easily become one of those bad habits and we can let it consume us.  This can become a very nasty grudge.  I believe that a grudge is just a long, unsatisfied desire for revenge.  Grudges can make us ugly, bitter people if we don’t keep ourselves in check.  

 If we successfully seek out revenge, does all go back to normal?  Or is it possible that there is some underlying guilt for what we’ve done to someone?  As humans, we feel like we can fix anything.  I believe this includes “getting even” with those who hurt us.  Sadly, though, we can’t and we never will fix everything.  If we can’t, then does somebody take care of this for us?  Maybe this is where the idea of karma comes in.  Whether you believe in it or not, it’s a very popular concept.  In simple terms, karma is what gets us all in the end.  According to karma, if you still something of mine then something will come to bite you later.  Not a very reliable concept but there can be a little hope in the thought.

Revenge is popular.  We base whole movies and books and shows and songs after this concept.  It is one of the many gray areas in our world’s moral definitions.  One day I’m sure someone will provide the world with an excellent example and definition of the world.  Until then it is our job to decide what it is and whether it’s worth it or not.