Tit for Tat

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Last night I was involved in a most remarkable conversation where the line of thought left me kind of flabbergasted for quite a while. I am not quite sure what to call it but it certainly gave me something to put into this discussion. It had to do with this awful business of retaliation. Perhaps retaliation is the wrong word to use. A word like vindictiveness is too strong to use, though both words imply varying grades of the same thing, with little bit of spite thrown in for good measure. This tit-for-tat approach is used all the time and does not speak well for those who indulge in it. In fact it is demeaning and it is something we should try to get out from our systems. We behave like this mainly with people we don't like: why not leave these people alone rather then being vindictive for no real reason. How can we live in any kind of harmony or at peace with each other, if these are the attitudes we nurture. This is probably what underlies all the international distrust, unfriendliness, and unrest we see around us, everybody expecting the worse. We anticipate the worse in others, not the best. There seems to be an unstraightenable kink somewhere in our minds that does not allow us to think about anything but the low levels to which human beings can sink rather than the heights they are capable of reaching. Alright, so somebody treated you like you would never have treated him. Does this one person make all the rest of mankind the same? Does that warrant a retaliatory approach on your part? Besides what is wrong if once in a while, instead of tit for tatting you turn the other cheek; it may sound to you like being naive, even stupid. Many people think of the meekness or kindness of any kind is a sign of weakness. Should that bother you when you know it's not true. Well if you feel that tit for tatting is justified, and those who feel that anticipated tatting is wrong should look into the motives that drive them to this kind of thinking. There bound to be reasons for these attitudes dislike, jealousy, a sense of inferiority complex etc., some trivial grudge that is blown up to unreasonable proportions. It's all so unnecessary. More often than not, a live and let live approach is the sensible approach. If something is not worth bothering about, why bother about it. It is only people with kind hearts and big minds that understand how temporary our sojourn here is, so if there be any kindness you may show or any good thing you can do, do it now, for you will not pass this way again.