Revenge: How do you feel about it?

[Swyftstar]

I don't really subscribe to it. If someone does something ugly to you, it's because they have ugly in their heart and are probably an unhappy person. In order to seek revenge you have to let that ugliness into your own heart, thus making you unhappy. Hell, just being angry at someone for an extended period of time makes me sick in my stomache. After it's all done, you now are in the position of either standing there realizing you did something horrible and feeling like crap or you realize you did something horrible and feel good about it, which in it's own way should make you feel like crap. In short, they are them and you are you. They did something horrible because they are horrible. Even if they deserved it, why would you do something horrible?

 

[Saladfork]

The desire for revenge in ye olde cavemanne times served as a rather crude way to ensure ones' safety. If you hurt a person, or stole their stuff, or burned their house down, or whatever, they'd go and kick your ass, or failing that, get the rest of their family to do it.

One problem with revenge is that it doesn't take much to create a cycle of escalation. Person A steals B's stick, B smashes A's possessions, A kidnaps B''s daughter, B kills A, A's family kills B and his family, etc.

Another problem is that it's comepltely unregulated. A percieved slight, even if unintentional, can start off a cycle rather like the one above. In addition, when one takes revenge, one rarely takes the time to collect evidence and witness statements, nor let the other party speak in their defence.

Justice is a better system by far (which is why we all use it). All the rules are laid out so that everyone knows what they can and can't do. Prosecution is limited to the individual who committed the crime, and nobody else has to get involved. Most importantly, it can settle disputes between two groups without resorting to the cycle of escalation, which in a society as large and connected as ours would likely prove quite destructive.

So no to revenge, I say. Unless you exist in a world where law and state have yet to form, it is not a valid way to settle disputes.