A dish best served... or not?
Dec. 28th, 2005 10:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
teiresiasThe question of the night: can revenge be moral?
There are currently two people I've known in my life upon whom I wish real hurt. One I've (mostly) forgotten about, and I managed to wreck (one sector of) his life pretty well before we parted ways, so it's not that big a deal any more. The other... well, that grievance is both bigger and fresher, and I now have the perfect opportunity to send the little bastard screaming back over the mountains. Of course, this one has such deep-seated emotional problems that I'm torn between wanting him to suffer and pitying him.
It's not a case of solving a problem, which revenge can't really do, in my experience. Rather, it's a question of which path will lead me to the most emotional satisfaction: forbearance or indulgence?
There are currently two people I've known in my life upon whom I wish real hurt. One I've (mostly) forgotten about, and I managed to wreck (one sector of) his life pretty well before we parted ways, so it's not that big a deal any more. The other... well, that grievance is both bigger and fresher, and I now have the perfect opportunity to send the little bastard screaming back over the mountains. Of course, this one has such deep-seated emotional problems that I'm torn between wanting him to suffer and pitying him.
It's not a case of solving a problem, which revenge can't really do, in my experience. Rather, it's a question of which path will lead me to the most emotional satisfaction: forbearance or indulgence?
