Is revenge the solution? Such a question! So deep and so broad. What do I mean by this? Is revenge the solution...to which problems? Okay, let us look at it this way: Is revenge the solution to the world's problems today? Still broad? Look at it this way too: Is revenge the solution to the raging anger in your heart against that fellow who has wronged you? Is revenge the solution to the rivalry and misunderstanding between rivals, nuclear and extended families, couples, ethnic groups, political parties, organisations, and nations today? Is revenge the solution to the inter-tribal bloodshed and the countless losses of precious lives from brutal civil wars today? I hope now it is clear. Yes, it is. So then, let us reason together...
Revenge! It is everywhere ---in homes, businesses and workplaces, even in the commercial buses. He stepped on my toes. She gossiped about me, and won the favour of my husband and my boss. He monopolised the family land left for the whole family, and took it forcefully. He did not agree with me to plan on the evil scheme I proposed the other time; and even threatened to reveal it. When I suggested bribe, he refused it. We have been in this company many years now; he just applied and now he has been promoted. We attend the same church; but it seems the pastor likes her more than all of us. The pastor has even given her many positions in the church. He is always first in class. In this market, she has won all the customers for herself. She gets good sales every day. His political party is doing very well in power. Her husband loves her so much. His business is growing more than mine. He cheated on me. She broke my heart. When I wronged him the last time he avenged. The last time I was in need, I asked for help, but she turned me down, although she could have helped me.........
Have you seen that? Now, did you notice that in one way or the other, you have ever made one or two of such statements about someone? Now here comes the question again: Is revenge the solution? Most people would answer, ''Yes, it is! After all, am I not also a human being, with feelings just like him or her? If you prick me, won't I feel pains? You do me, I do you. If good is nothing, then bad is nothing as well..." O, human being! Hold on. Be patient. If you observed very closely, you would have realised that most of all these accusations are stemming out of mere jealousy. Most of the times, those that we feel so angry with have not actually wronged us in any way. So man, be patient.
First of all, that feeling starts from the heart. Sometimes it is not real. It is only some baseless jealousy. O, our hearts! Then, it grows as unreal as it is, into hatred, alongside a strong wishful-thinking feeling! "I wish I were like him. I wish I got what he's got. He is so rich! Wouldn't my life have been so rich as his if I were as rich as him?" From there, the same heart begins to devise some possible ways to get what it selfishly wants. If it does not get it, then it turns into hatred for them, even when the other fellow is innocent. But, do we know how they got what they hold today? Do we know?
On the other hand, of course, we sometimes have fair cases! We are sometimes actually offended. We are cheated. We are betrayed. We are despised. We are insulted. In fact, we are disrespected! And we feel that we must act. We must not just sit down like that for any reason. We must pay back. But, hold on. Truth is, this is not that which will bring peace. This is not that which will bring cure to our troubled hearts. It will rather lead to regrets. Even if we end up killing them for revenge, how about us? Will we not die too? Will we live forever?
My mother used to say something to us when I was young. She would say: "If your heart mentions a big price, bargain with it." When I grew older I understood it very well. She was trying to say that if our hearts rage in anger, we, who are the keepers of our hearts, should control it. And basically, that is what can solve the problems of the world today. When we start working on our hearts; when we start loving our fellow men as ourselves; when we start suppressing our ego; when we start humbling ourselves; when we start forgiving and forgetting like children, that will be the solution. When we pray, let us pray for the Holy Spirit. When He comes to abide in our hearts, this will be so easy to do.
Let us be content with what we have. Let us be envious of no one in this world. What we have is for us. What others have is for them. What we do not have is not for us.
So then, I say that revenge is not the solution, and so is not jealousy. These are rather the beginning of countless problems. Revenge is evil. It kills. It destroys things. It sheds blood. Forgiveness is the solution. It is that which will give us peace of mind. It is that which will unite the world. It is that which will give us long life. For me, I choose forgiveness. I smile, forgive and forget. Do you choose forgiveness, too?
Enjoy your day. Stay out of trouble.
ISAAC ESSOUN
