Quote

This quote is from http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1114469.html

"It may be all too true, that the best of us go young. I have spoken with Palestinians who say the same thing. For those of us left to grieve, there is a constant impulse to give in to revenge, to fury, to callousness. Heroism may be nothing more than defying all of these, and seeking, in our feeble way, to follow the example of our best and our lost."

I didn't find the article interesting because of the political stance, or lack of one, but I like this quote, and I think about this often, especially revenge. Why is it so important for humans to have revenge on each other? Why is forgiveness so difficult? And why is forgiving ourselves even harder?

Even something really silly like the movie Inglorious Bastards...everyone I know in Israel wants to see it! But why?? Because Americans take revenge on the Nazis?! I mean, I get it, the Nazis did things beyond most human's comprehension. But first, it's really violent, which I don't like...and secondly, isn't revenge for God or some higher being, or even destruction of one self...if someone is religious, they should technically believe that revenge is for God to take. But by humans taking revenge, I feel like we lose a little bit of our soul, that it lessens who we are every time we want to hurt someone else, even if they "deserve" it. How does killing the person who killed my friend make me better?

The sense of revenge is so intense here. I know that young soldiers die frequently and I couldn't imagine losing someone by means of an "enemy," but not forgiving (from both sides) does not benefit anyone's cause. And revenge makes it far worse and less managable than we could ever imagine.