Revenge..

I know its been forever since I wrote something on my blog, and its mainly because of work and all the wedding planning. But I was compelled to write today because I have spent this whole weekend arguing about this one topic “Revenge”.. It started on Saturday with a discussion around some family disputes and was fueled very strongly by last night’s announcement of Osama bin Laden’s being killed by the US troops.. I am glad that we have put an end to the leadership of Al Qaeda, but I don’t find myself jumping with joy.. And isn’t because I didn’t lose a loved one on 9/11, but its simply against my right mind to celebrate anyone’s death.. I may see people finding closure of some kind, but are we really that insensitive that we are rejoicing a man’s death, even if he was evil? A man who was killed after 10 years of hunting, spending millions of dollars, and killing millions of innocent people in the process? And lets not forget the millions of people who are unemployed in this country due to the millions of dollars that were spent elsewhere instead of improving the situation for their own citizens.. Was all this really worth it? I somehow don’t see the point, and I don’t understand if this crazy chase to kill one man was really worth it..

Now getting back to main point, did we all forget that Osama bin Laden became a terrorist because he was seeking revenge from the US after what they had done in Afghanistan to win another war against Russia? Was his revenge worth it? He killed 3000 people on 9/11, and instilled this grave fear in all our hearts which made us suspect the next muslim we ran into, or even the turbaned sikh who seemed pretty similar to an average mid-western american.. And we went back after him to seek revenge for 9/11, killing another millions.. So at what point is this cycle of revenge supposed to end? Is this is the purpose of our lives on the earth? To keeping going in these cycles of generations after generations seeking revenge? Today we killed bin Laden, tomorrow who knows in what form their revenge will come back? Is this the point of this life?

I don’t think so, and this also applies to our little ego battles and quarrels with our friends and families.. If one person wrongs you, you set out to avenge it by doing something stupid, and that kicks off this infinite loop of back and forth of ego-driven attacks.. What happened to striving to make peace? Maybe making peace with Al Qaeda sounds impossible to a lot of you, but how about starting with your own brothers and sisters, and friends that you have lost in this ego battle? And what about forgiveness? Even if you don’t believe in any religion, you still know that forgiveness is a virtue and ego a vice. And let me clarify, that I am not preaching, if there’s someone who knows ego, its me.. I have done a lot of stupid things in the rush of my ego that I now regret, but atleast I am trying to change my point of view.. I am trying to end any cycles of ego wars in my life and am reaching out to the ones I lost in this process.. And if I can do it, I have hope that others can too..

Lets get out of this revenge cycle, this ego battle, and embrace the life that we have been given.. Maybe I sound like a hippie from the 70s, but revenge and war will never do any good.. It will continue this cycle forever and we will simply end up being consumed by either getting back at someone, or in the fear of their retaliation.. If there’s anyone that can put an end to this, it is you..

1 comment May 2nd, 2011