When I saw you use the word revenge in the other thread Neil, I got the full body rush. Ugh, revenge - bad. But then I read your amusing experience and I asked myself if I ever felt this way. The answer is yes.
At the end of my first marriage, my soon to be ex husband had an affair, and his girlfriend would call the house, let it ring twice and hang up, or hang up if I answered before two rings. This got my attention when it began, so I started watching what became obvious between them. So I asked them both directly about it, and they both denied it. It went on for a bit longer before it occurred to me that I need not suffer the intrusion into my life. I called her home (she also was married with children) every hour for twenty four - day and night, for one twenty four hour period, and hung up after two rings or if anyone answered. If my husband heard me doing this when he was home at night, he said nothing. Her husband was obviously not happy as the night wore on, as evidenced by the tone of his voice. Lucky for me, it was prior to caller ID telephones. Well, it worked for me. The calls stopped. Nothing was ever mentioned by anyone until one day a couple of years and after my divorce I got a call from her. She had gone into AA and wanted to make amends. I listened to her, encouraged her to continue with her program, and kindly let her know she was not welcome to call me again. This, by the definitions above, would be revenge, although for me at the time, it was the only way I could think of to get the calls to stop. I wasn't thinking of getting even, but stopping the calls. I wasn't delighted in this poor families frustration, but glad the calls stopped. On Aug 25, 7:33 pm, archytas <[email protected]> wrote: > It's not a good idea to let a chimp see you give it an injection - it > will take revenge. My guess amongst humans is that there is so little > justice that revenge gets taken in all kinds of inappropriate ways. > The idiot wife beater may well be really pissed off over other matters > and so on. Young Iranian boys off to get killed by Iraqi gas wore > socks marked 'Death to Israel'. From the Baltic to the Balkans one > set has taken revenge against another for over a thousand years. In > Albania, the men have to stay indoors whilst the women toil in the > fields for fear of vendetta (no doubt a cunning sexist use of > 'revenge'). Petty revenge is nearly always taken out for the wrong > reasons against the wrong people. It's usually nasty and childish. > > On 25 Aug, 23:30, Slip Disc <[email protected]> wrote: > > > I think you covered it all. > > > On Aug 25, 5:00 pm, Molly Brogan <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > Revenge or vengeance consists of retaliation against a person or group > > > in response to perceived wrongdoing. Although many aspects of revenge > > > resemble or echo the concept of making things equal, revenge usually > > > has a more injurious than constructive goal. The vengeful wish is to > > > make the perceived wrongdoer go through what they put the victim > > > through or to make sure the wrongdoer can never do what they did > > > again. > > > > Revenge has been a popular theme for art and culture throughout > > > history. Many popular motion pictures have used it as a central theme, > > > including Payback, Death Wish, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star > > > Wars: Revenge of the Sith, and Kill Bill. Classic literary examples of > > > revenge stories include The Oresteia, Hamlet, The Merchant of Venice, > > > Don Giovanni, and Moby-Dick. > > > > Revenge seen in the light of ethics highlights the tension between > > > what we think of a just versus what we think of as right. But even in > > > the light of ethics, some may accept revenge as the ethical > > > alternative when an impartial system of justice is missing or > > > ineffective, reasoning that punishment of wrongdoers is a better > > > alternative than no punishment whatsoever. In these cases, it seems > > > reasonable that revenge may be an appropriate reaction to small > > > infractions, assuming the revenge is kept small as well. > > > > What do YOU think? --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/minds-eye?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
