Have you ever lost a loved one? War, disease, pure accident. They all occur every day. Any veteran of life can tell you that, with a hard edge to their eyes that whispers, “I’ve been there.”
But what about that nagging ache inside us to exact some form of…balance, or perhaps even justice?
These people, they have their own view of vengeance. Everybody does. Vengeance, balance and justice. To quote from a short story I’m writing: “to see justice in vengeance was to see a double-bladed dagger, dipped tip and tip in crimson, that could never wedge itself into any mould of exacted righteousness.”
So, vengeance, balance and justice.
Why vengeance? Why do we seek to inflict retributive hurt or affliction upon somebody? Why do we strive to deliver vindication in a world already entombed in crime and violence?
So many of us will feel the anguish of loss. Sometimes people die peaceful deaths, passing from the now into the beyond during their final sleep, and after our mourning, when we can begin to reconcile our grief with the great memories, perhaps we are able to see that these people, thankfully, were not encroached upon for years by a debilitating disease; they were not driven to a point in their life where they felt that outside of their walls waited nothing, and no one.
We can be happy, too, that they were not murdered. No crime is greater, we know that, you and I. To take somebody else’s life. To steal away somebody’s wife, grandfather, daughter. To amputate somebody from a life in which they had aspirations, dreams, loves, fears and secrets similar to any other human, but unique because they were that person’s alone. All of this, cut away by somebody who thought they were above justice.
A system of law, with structured rules and strictures dedicated to the protection and preservation of humanity, to upholding the sanctity of life, possession and a hale state of being. Justice – the measuring – through due process – of guilt, the apportioning of culpability and innocence in order to produce – what we hope will be – the right outcome. If a person commits murder, it must be for the law to try them, mustn’t it? For the criminal to have to admit their crime; to understand the vicious act they have committed, to see that the self-serving path they followed has hurt others. But there is one extra, fundamental function beneath the surface of justice.
It maintains humanity.
Another excerpt from my short story: “to mourn somebody killed was to ever know the acid tastes of rage and disgust, never grief alone. If they were a friend, family, if they were loved, would not the mind be remiss if vengeance and hate did not conspire to realign all that was, and is?” This character is confused by loss and the deaths of so many around him. Vengeance. The act of bringing a balance to the wrongdoer in order for them to feel what you feel, for them to appreciate the hurt pulling at you deep within your core. Is this the aim of vengeance?
Justice keeps the victim’s head above the water. Justice is the wise man who puts his arm before the one on the path of vengeance, and he whispers, “leave it to justice”. Justice is humanity refusing to degrade itself to heinous behaviour; justice is society turning away from the twisted lure of crime; justice is…justice.
Easily said when within us, hatred and anger flare up, wanting us to swear our lives to a path of vengeance, right? Take The Oresteia by Aeschylus.
Agamemnon is killed by Aegisthus and Clytemnestra; both are on the path of vengeance. Aegisthus for his father, Thyestes and Clytemnestra for her daughter, Iphigenia. The trilogy itself continually focuses on the curse of vengeance. Where is the balance satiated?
If A kills B, then won’t C avenge B? But then, will D, a great friend of A, want C “brought to justice”? – yet it is never as easy as telling a murderer to stand and be tried before a jury, is it? And so, as D would no doubt do, actions are taken into the hands of the victim, of the afflicted, of the hurting. Is it right? I don’t think so, but only in recent times have we had a justice system which extends across entire nations. What were people meant to do when a marshal or a magistrate wasn’t due to arrive for days, weeks, months?
I don’t have the answer. It is hard to break a cycle, and one of vengeful bloodlust is no doubt the hardest of all. Aeschylus creates a scenario where, were it not for Orestes being tried and absolved because of his rationalization of the curse and where it had to end, could his tragedy not have gone on and on until not just a family tore itself apart, but a nation?
Vengeance is neither justice nor balance. It is a shroud of lies and false righteousness. This asseveration is the only one I make.
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A longer version of this article originally appeared at Fractured Paths
Your words make sense and are equally well written.
I really do battle to cast vengeance from my heart, even though I know it is such a poison chalice from which I drink.
Hurt goes so deep and when it feels like there is nothing that will ever repair the dark holes in my heart, spirit and soul, vengeance becomes so attractive. I need to feel that I am taking a stand, taking charge of the emptiness and refocussing on anything other than the pain.
I realise it is a double edged sword and a wasted exercise, but in some measure there is satisfaction in the here and now and in the moment.
A huge work in progress…
Thank you for the thought provoking article!
Kind regards,
Greg
Hi Greg,
You’re right when you say that hurt goes deep. It does. In you, in me, in everybody. We as a species seem so susceptible to pain and torment both internally and from the outside, that, in the darkest moments, when the pain sends us close to that edge, vengeance will always, on some level, look attractive.
Yet each time any one of us bites hard on the pain and swallows an inch of pride, we are working wonders.
There isn’t always a cure, and you’re right, any fight against affliction-triggered action is a work in progress.
That’s where, beyond anything else, friends and family and outside support can be so powerful; we need not tackle every obstacle singlehandedly.
Keep your head up.
Cheers,
S.C.