Revenge is natural. We all want justice, usually in the system of : an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. But today (4.10.12) I witnessed an exception to this. In RE, our teacher let Nicky Campbell teach us our lessons through an episode of 'The Big Questions' discussing the use of Capital Punishment. Various arguments for and against were set down by people who had many different connections to the subject. One wrongly accused man would have been dead if Capital Punishment had not been abolished. Though that is not the most startling argument.
One couple, Vi and Ray, who's son Chris Donovan was murdered by a youth gang, were arguing against the death penalty. When they took the matter to court, they were fed lies and were outraged. But, years later, when they decided they wanted the truth, they met up with one of the boys who killed their son. He said "I was a coward and I killed your son." Had that boy been put to death, they would never have heard him say that and would never have "Realised who [their] victim was". They realised that they were the victims, and that the victims don't get a say over what happens in court. Is that not wrong?
Later in the show, revenge was being discussed. Isn't the death penalty purely vengeance? And isn't vengeance what starts wars? The Donovan's were of the opinion that revenge is unfair to those it affects. Vi was determined that the boys should not be put to death, for the sake of those families. "(Paraphrasing) Do you wish to put them through what we went through?"
Revenge is something of human nature, something difficult to resist the desire for. The urgency with which she argued her case is proof only of how oblivious she was to one of the pettiest human qualities. She, instead showed the most extreme form of empathy and, in my opinion became far better than most humans.
I apologise for the ridiculous tardiness of this post. Busy week.
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