THE DANGER OF VENGEANCE

I know life gets us all riled up and we let our emotions get the best of us. But when we take actions fueled by negative emotions, we mostly end up doing despicable things that end up changing us negatively. I'm coming from a particular angle; just stay with me...

Some thief stole in the market, so you feel justified to practice jungle justice on him... An elder makes a mockery of his age by being childish, so you insult him with strong words... What you don't seem to understand is that by executing these "just" reprisals, you do more harm to yourself... Calm down, I'll explain: when you kill a thief in such a gruesome manner, you actually kill your humanity also. And that means you may one day become worse than the thief you've killed... When you utterly disrespect an elder and embarrass them especially in public because they misbehaved, you're actually killing the part of you that makes you decent, groomed, cultured and respectful; thus, you lay the foundation of becoming worse than the infantile geezer you just abused and insulted.

Sometimes I see this yearn for vengeance as a trap by the devil. He can use one thief to create twenty monsters through jungle justice. But at that moment, the lot are convinced they're doing the right thing. Well, no human being can burn another human being alive - only monsters can... The same thing happens when a group of five children seek revenge against an irresponsible father; I mean, it's just one father. But when the children lay their hands on him or abuse him, vengeance against one irresponsible man creates five more irresponsible individuals - do you get the point now?

There's a reason the Bible says vengeance is for God. When you render what you feel is justice, you sometimes sully yourself in the process. It may seem just in the heat of the moment, but vengeance may immediately or eventually make you worse than your aggressor. You see, fire does more damage to the vessel that harbours it than it does to whom it was prepared for.

Don't let anger and other forms of negative emotion overwhelm you and lead you to doing terrible things - vile things that may change you without your notice. Try to put hysteria under control, because if you don't, you might end up being that same villain you loathe so much. Always remember, there are better ways of handling certain issues - especially emotional ones. Just take a glass of cold water, pray, and think! Never act out of anger. It's difficult; I struggle with this too - a lot, if I may add. But I know it's the right way.

God help us.