When I See You Cry, It Makes Me Smile...

This week’s blog is about revenge. When is it appropriate? Is it ever appropriate at all? How far is too far? Revenge is actually very intriguing when it comes down to it. And if we think about it, we see revenge everywhere! It’s on TV shows every week, it’s in books, it’s in plays, and it’s even in school! So what is revenge anyway?
In the dictionary it defines revenge as follows: Revenge 1: to avenge (as oneself) usually by retaliating in kind or degree 2: to inflict injury in return for . It says clearly to inflict injury in return of an event! That’s a little scary that it means to inflict injury! Think about that, have you ever inflicted injury on another person to get revenge?
There are a lot of examples of people hurting, or even killing people for revenge. In literature we have two great examples in the book The Count of Monte Cristo; the main character Edmond seeks revenge against all of the people who had wronged him in his past. He inflicts injury on a couple of those people too! Another classic example of revenge is found in Romeo and Juliet, when Mercrutio is killed by Tybalt so in return Romeo kills Tybalt.
Even if you don’t think you are being exposed to a lot of revenge in the media, you actually are! Just tonight I saw another example of revenge on the television show called Desperate Housewives. Somebody got pushed off of a roof because of an old grudge, a woman got locked in a room then she fell off of a roof, a lady almost got poisoned and murdered, then the evil lady became paralyzed. All of this happened because everyone wanted revenge on another person!
The title of this blog is from a song called “Smile” by Lily Allen. This song is about a woman who was cheated on by her boyfriend so she decides to get revenge on him by hiring her friends to mug him and mess up his apartment. And she puts laxatives in his tea in the video! It’s a great song by the way! (Ha-ha) This song got me to thinking about when revenge is acceptable and when it isn’t. Also, what kinds of revenge are acceptable?
Personally, I think that men who cheat on their wives are freaks and deserve a severe punishment. That’s only because someone very, very close to me has been cheated on and it was not a great experience. But I don’t think anyone deserves to get hurt out of revenge just for something they did. The only time someone should get hurt for what they did is if they are tried in a court of law and that is their sentence. I just don’t think that revenge should include violence or anything that serious. Then what revenge is appropriate?
In my book, only relatively harmless revenge is acceptable. If some dude chucks a fry at your head, feel free to chuck on right back at him for revenge. Or if it’s a sweet playful revenge go for it! Just make sure nothing gets really out of hand! I’ve gotten revenge on people. Nothing too extreme, just immature little food fights! That was fun!
Now it’s your turn, reply to this with your thoughts and opinions. What revenge is ok, what isn’t? I’d like to know how everyone feels!