The live streaming of the gruesome attack on peaceful Muslims attending prayers in Christchurch, New Zealand startles even the most heartless person. Filled with vengeance and racist ideology, the attacker went on killing mercilessly regardless of the innocent children or women days apart. People were trying to come to terms with such an inhumane attack.

Lo and behold, another massacre of people on Easter Sunday in a church in Sri Lanka’s province. The same story of brutal gunning down of innocent people. Little did both the people in New Zealand or Sri Lanka know, they were being part of a revenge game playing out globally today. Alas! They simply thought it would be the same beautiful day of their life, unaware it would be their last!

Both of the above events occurred miles apart, but the common thread that binds them is “you kill, I will kill too” — the never-ending cycle of revenge, vengeance. It can never be satiated. Mahatma Gandhi rightly pointed out, ‘An eye for an eye only turns the whole world blind.’ If we all want to pay back others in the same coin, what we would be left with is a world filled with hatred, chaos devoid of love, instability, and vengeance. Revenge has a DOMINO effect. It never stops till the last man drops. It is human nature. It only takes a person of greater character and strength to let go – to forgive. Else the world today will be a mad, mad world!

An eye for an eye and global wars: Beginning from the Seven Years’ War between France and Britain for dominance, the wars had become a part and parcel of the world. Riding on the zeal of having a united Slav state, Serbians triggered a spark. And the web of alliances in Europe all rolled up to culminate in one of the worst wars of the time – World War I. Finally, it ended in 1918 with the Treaty of Versailles, the supposedly peace treaty.

But again, the treaty was a vengeful act of France and others to subdue Germany. The result is another World War, i.e., World War II. Hitler, riding on the egoistic nationalism of Germans, committed the worst of crimes – the Holocaust. The war finally came to an end in 1945.

The persecuted Jews had slowly concentrated in the Israel area, and today, they continue vengeful acts against Gaza and the Palestinian people. The cycle of vengeance just never ends up. It simply captivates more people into its cycle and perpetuates disaster.

Vengeance – leading to a chaotic world: Iraq invaded Kuwait, known as the Gulf Crisis in 1991 for myriad reasons. And then, the United States of America took upon itself to weaken the Axis of Evil by attacking Iraq and sentencing Saddam Hussein. It took the USA nearly a decade to pull out of Iraq (though not completely). In the meantime, the political, economical, cultural, and social infrastructure of the country had been ravaged to the ground. And this provided a fertile ground for the rise of the Islamic State (ISIS). This is now committing untold crimes in Syria, Iraq, and venturing into Afghanistan as well. The heat goes out for the plight of the small children buried in the rubble of buildings shot down by one of the missiles. What was their crime, one asks!

Similarly, USA’s misadventures in Afghanistan are showing no signs of improvement. While the talks with the Taliban are going on, the bombing attacks continue unabated nevertheless. The sufferers – the poor, innocent countrymen – are caught in this quagmire of the revenge game.

The colonizers, when decolonized Africa, left it in such a state that it was hard for them to develop. Especially Belgium used tribal revelry as a divide and rule policy to sustain its dominance. The Rwandan genocide is the worst crime against humanity. The Tutsi tribes still fight with the other tribes for dominance. The same is the scenario in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Bosnian Massacre is another gory example of the revenge game.

At the national level, the Naxalites have traditionally been peasants, tribals who were exploited and deprived of their livelihoods. Now they have adopted a military answer to their problem which just never seems to end. Innumerable killings, deadly IED blasts have continued. The villagers are the worst victims. Radicalization of youths is a result of a vengeful attitude because of exclusive activity of the society.

At the political level, today we frequently find delaying the passage of bills, resorting to walkouts, washing off the whole parliament session irrespective of those in power. The opposition resorts to such tactics to stay politically relevant. This, in turn, affects the proper functioning of the state, betrays the mandate of citizens — “vengeance of political parties” against each other on display.

At the economic level, today we see China resorting to neo-colonialism practices in Sri Lanka (Hambantota port) and in Africa (providing cheap loans). It itself had been a victim of colonialism. But today it is leading to affecting the sovereignty of the nations.

At the societal level, incidents of mob lynching, cow vigilantism, mob violence, and riots are all results of pent-up anger and revenge in people. Mob violence is a way of expressing dominance. Looking back to the past (especially the medieval period), people are being misled by how Muslims committed atrocities on Hindus, how they destroyed their culture. The Babri Masjid demolition is the culmination of all the revenge among. The hardliners’ beef ban, regulation of cow-slaughtering, etc., are a result of these social fissures which were always present in society. But today are being dearly manifested.

Again, at the individual level, if one resorts to a vengeful attitude, he/she can never be at peace with him/herself. If one always tries to find a way out to get back at others, life would be all about being revengeful. One should stand up against the wrong. One should stand up against bullies. But one must also know when to let go and forgive. Otherwise, the virus of revenge infects an individual to such an extent that a happy life would be a myth for him/her.

Effect of vengeance: As stated above, for an individual, it results in an unhappy, never content life. One loses the right to the small, small happiness of life because he is so engrossed in finding ways to come back. It leads to the loss of adequate development of the mind and body. Inefficiency of one increases.

At the societal level, there is an appearance of mistrust, loss of social solidarity, cohesion. Community bonds weaken. Social value consensus declines. Society becomes moribund, decays. It may result in society going back on its progressive path.

The nation as a whole may not prosper to its ultimate potential. It will be held back as its demographic dividend becomes weak. It may even lose its international standing because of societal squabbles. Politically, economically, culturally weak state cannot reach the pinnacle of success.

The global world would slowly turn into a chaotic world with so much of vengeance. The ongoing bombing attacks beginning from 9/11 in the USA, Orlando, Spain, Nice, Paris attacks, etc., are a manifest of the vengeance of the marginalized, the deprived people. All the progress of the world could lay in ruins because someone somewhere decided to nuke the whole world.
“An eye for an eye, only turns the whole world blind”