“Men regard it as their
right to return evil for evil – and, if they cannot, they feel that they have
lost their liberty”
Aristotle
Early in the fourth chapter of Charlotte
Brontë’s novel, “Jane Eyre”, Jane
recalled her first taste of what she calls “something of vengeance”. For her,
vengeance seemed like aromatic wine because, after swallowing it, it felt warm
and racy – but – its after-taste was
metallic and corroding, giving her the sensation as if she had been poisoned. This
is a beautiful analogy of the nature of vengeance. Jane did not stop there, she
added the following:
“A half an hour’s silence and reflection had
shown me the madness of my conduct, and the dreariness of my hated and hating
position.”
This is usually the final outcome of
revenge. At first, it feels good, but then you realise the nonsensical and
wickedness of your behaviour. John Milton expresses the truth of what I just
said, so well, when he says that revenge is indeed sweet, but though at first
sweet, before long the bitter taste will recoil back on itself.
Yes, vengeance, retribution, revenge,
retaliation, and payback – they all have one thing in common – they add fuel to
the fire of the law: "an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind".
Do you want to continue on the trend of blinding the world, or do you want to
do the right thing?
Think about it, revenge only convert a
little right into a great wrong. What is the use of falling into a rage of vengeance?
Keep in mind that those plotting the destruction of others often perish in that
very same attempt. This is in line with the thinking of Confucius. This sage made
it clear that if ever you decide to start your journey of revenge, then first
make sure you dig two graves – one for your target and one for YOU. My question
to you is this. When you revert to taking revenge, does that not place you on
an even par with that of your enemy? However, when you pass it over, are you then
not superior to that of your wrongdoer? The answer to both – yes indeed. If somebody
do you wrong, let it be a revelation of that person’s character, and either
address that or cut that individual from your life. Life is too short to waste
on vengeance, never forget that. There is more pleasure in forgiving your
enemies and moving on, with or without them in your lives, than reverting to
vengeance. May this be your goal for today and every other day!
Revenge surely
isn't sweet,
put that today in
your tweet.
Something worth
believing,
is the joy in the
act of forgiving.
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