Today I read this article about a murder. A man killed his friend, who molested his girlfriend. He couldn't control his anger and just stabbed the guy.
I'm not going to talk about molestation today by the way. It's a hard topic for me to discuss by the way.
So let's think about this situation. If your girlfriend were molested or hurt in some way, would it be right to kill the one who assaulted them? This is basically a question about values. Is it right to kill a man who has wronged? Is it even right to kill a man? After all, he did hurt your life in a drastic way. Don't you have the right to hurt him back?
This is the thinking of an avenger. An avenger wants to get even with someone who most likely has disrupted his/her life in some way. Revenge is usually considered bad, but the media portrays it as part of being a hero. The bad guy hurt the good guy so now the good guy has to get even with the villain.
As you can see, we live in a very vengeful society. Revenge is around us, from gang fights to getting even with your boss. If someone harmed you, harm them back. But is revenge really the answer to problems?
Let's look at an example. Boy A is a mildly violent middle schooler; he's basically a bully. Boy A feels like beating someone up so he picks the nearest kid, Boy B, and promptly lands a punch to the face. Now Boy B has two choices here. He could either retaliate and start a fight, or just do nothing and wait for an adult.
Now society tells us that not attacking means you're a coward. Frankly it's the opposite. If the other person keeps fighting, it means he can't control himself. He's weak. You're strong if you can tune out the peer pressure and the encouraging crowd. If he keeps attacking, you can keep blocking without causing harm.
So retaliation isn't the best course of action if you want to prove you're strong. If you really do have strength, use it to defend instead of attacking. Plus if you can keep blocking the blows, you'll look even cooler.
