Revenge, Part 1

My younger brother, was put into a coma by two underage drivers out joy-riding. It was a hit and run, and my brother did not recover. Twenty years later, a woman showed up at my parents’ front door...she was one of the two girls who hit my brother... and was wracked with guilt over her act, and had suffered a lot of emotional pain as a result. She asked my parents if they could ever forgive her. My mom and dad not only assured her they had forgiven her, but prayed with her at some length, and shared with her about their faith in Jesus Christ which had enabled them to cope with her thoughtless act, and with my brother’s death which it caused. Honestly, I’m not completely certain that I could do that. The irony in this tragedy is that these two girls attended our High School. My parents thoughtfully shielded their identities from us, their sons. Had we known, I suspect that my younger brothers and I may have sought to get revenge; pay back these girls, or the guy who loaned them his car. for what they did to our brother and family. Revenge would have made a bad thing worse. My brother’s evil is a reality in this world; we all live under it’s influence, and with it’s effects: suffering. Most every one of us have been victims -as well as perpetrators- of evil, which leaves us with a couple of very important questions? How do I deal with others’ evil towards me? If we'll be honest about it, we want justice; we want the wrongs against us avenged, like Moses’ “eye for eye” ethic. We don’t like injustice or undeserved evil.. especially when we’re the victims. That’s what makes movies like V for Vendetta, or Batman, or Boondock Saints, or other vigilante films so successful. History is littered with tragic tales of what can develop when we succumb to unforgiveness, or respond with revenge… most famously, the Hatfield and McCoy feud that lasted 13 years, stretched over 2 states, and claimed over a dozen lives, including 2 murdered children. It illustrates something that Pastor Martin Luther King said: "That old law about "an eye for an eye" leaves everybody blind. The time is always right to do the right thing." The question is: what’s the right thing to do when you’ve suffered a wrong, an injustice? Revenge often “feels” right, and seeing someone get their “just dessert” can be satisfying. But, as John Milton said: What goes down sweet often comes back up bitter. That’s why God says: revenge is mine, leave it to me." Trusting that "God will judge" helps me refrain from taking matters into my own hands.