Love, hate, and the need for revenge

A conversation last night, and posts by Madame Chaing and Scorpy kinda all collided and started the wheels to spinning.

Love and hate, two of the strongest emotions in us. They are both powerful and if unchecked, can consume us. Even more strange, that one can become the other. A lover wronged, can turn love to hate. I have also seen two bitter enemies come together due to one seeing the other in pain caused by a death. It just shows how close to each other the love and hate are.

Now for revenge. When we are wronged there is always some part of us, no matter how small, that craves revenge. Does it make the hurt lessen, does it make us feel vindicated? Usually not, in the most base sense it is one person wanting another to know how they made them feel. In cases when love or hate is involved, it can be bloody and long lasting (the Hatfields and Mccoys are a good example of this). For some revenge can be as simple as going "Hold my beer so I can kick his ass.", for others it can be more ummm... "Creative". Case in point.

Man 1 (names are being withheld to protect the stupid) tries to get with Woman 1. Woman 1 had just broken up with Man 2 (who Man 1 had no idea even existed). Man 1 failed in his ploy and went about his business and forgets the whole matter. Man 2 finds out about this after reuniting with Woman 1, and proceeds to spread his feces all over Man 1's apartment door. Next he eggs Man 1's place of work. Due to this, Man 1 is fired from his job, and is waiting to see if he is going to be deported back to his home country. Last night Man 1 tells his woes to his friends, his friends (all pretty much drunk), then start urging Man 1 to take various steps to pay Man 2 back (violence). Before things could spiral out of control, a wise and sage Man 3 (yours truly), diffuses the situation with well placed jokes and more alcohol (I have been in enough bar fights worldwide
to know how and when to keep them from starting).

Personally if you wrong me, I'll tell you to "go to hell" and never have anything to do with you again. If you wrong my loved ones, well to coin a phrase "It's on!".

Just my 2 cents.