Gandhi - An Eye For an Eye

“An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.”

-       Mahatma Gandhi

            We’ve always been taught that we should love our enemies, respect their choice of disliking us, and let them backstab you because there could be a possibility that we have done something to harm them or hurt them in some way. But we are all human, and there have been times in our lives where we’ve decided to take the best of our emotions, and let it get to us. We’ve gotten to the point where we’ve become so mad that we’ve decided that the only way we can feel better is by taking revenge on those that have hurt us. We’ve decided to either hurt them in the same way, or hurt them in a way, which is much worse. Though it’s not something that should be applauded, it should be let go from time to time. I’m not saying that revenge is something sweet, even though it feels like that for a time being; I’m saying that though it can be excusable sometimes, it should not be a habit and it does make the whole world blind. We become too caught up in the “getting-revenge-process” that we don’t realize how much the hatred has blinded us. This makes us forget the good things in our lives and it makes us feel like the only thing that is good is getting revenge. Mahatma Gandhi is right when he says that taking revenge on one another on makes us forget the good things in front of us, as World War II has shown us that revenge destroys bystanders, not only people involved, and as the war between Harry Potter and Voldemort has shown that we forget the good things in our lives when we are too preoccupied with the idea of revenge.

            World War II, especially the time of the Holocaust, was a period of great loss for the majority of the world. There was the ongoing conflict between the United States and Japan, when the atom bomb had landed in the world. Thousands and thousands of people were killed as United States; with Republic of China, and Great Britain send an ultimatum to Japan asking them to end the war. Japan didn’t listen and continued on its way, and for this reason, the Allies, dropped Little Boy on Hiroshima, and Fat Boy on Nagasaki. Because of the atomic bomb being dropped, there had been a lot of radiation going around the country, concentrated on those two areas. The radiation killed around 166,000 people just within that short time span. Innocent people all over the country were killed because the two country governments were trying to take revenge on each other. They didn’t realize what a major impact it would have on the country as a whole. Around the same time the Holocaust was in place. Hitler was so preoccupied with taking revenge on all the Jews were claimed to be of the Aryan descendants, but weren’t. He massacred people country by country; leaving many places across Europe no choice but to declare war on him. Having no conscience of already killing millions of people, Hitler continued on his way to gain the utmost power that he could possibly gain. He continued killing people and wasn’t even worried about how many he killed. He only cared about gaining his power, and taking revenge of those who were of impure souls and those who were “trying to take his power away.” All of those millions of people who were killed were innocent, but his rage and his vengeful mind only made him angrier, seeking more revenge and destroying the lives of those around him.

            The beginning of the Harry Potter series started with the introduction of a conflict between the “boy who lived,” Harry Potter, and Voldemort, the immortal death master, which would continue until the end of the last book. We all know the story of how Harry’s mother, Lily, protected him from Voldemort with her love, and how Harry and Voldemort always have this connection because of this scar; this has only resulted in the an even bigger conflict, when one has to out do the other. One has to take revenge on the other if they are unsuccessful in taking out the other person. Voldemort’s mignons have stayed with him throughout the book series, and until the last book, he hasn’t been able to notice the loyalty that his Death Eaters have provided for him. The way they’ve stuck with him throughout and the way they’ve carried out his every command, is like a dog connected to his master.  Voldemort wasn’t able to see the power that he withheld because the only thing that he could think about was taking revenge out on Harry. On the other hand, Harry was ungrateful at times. He wasn’t able to see what the fortunate childhood he had grown up with; though he lost his parents, he still had loving family and friends who seemed to sacrifice their lives at every turn for him. He was to preoccupied with destroying Voldemort and taking revenge on him for killing his parents, Harry wasn’t able to have a normal childhood and was suffering from the idea that the only thing he lived for was taking Voldemort down. He wasn’t able to enjoy the company of his friends, as he was always worried about the next danger or the next move that Voldemort was planning. He knew that he had to take Voldemort down, but he wasn’t able to ever get past that, and because of this, he lost the few precious moments that he had as adolescent.

             We are human, and the things we do some times are just unforgivable, but there are times when we know that we need to stop and realize that the things we do are not doing us any good. Gandhi believed that violence and revenge were one of those things. He explained that taking revenge out on everyone that has wronged you is only going to make you blind; it’s going to make your forget your life and only worry about the way you can get someone back, and is going to hurt, not only you, but those around you as well. It is, in these times, when we need to be careful, and when we need to know when to stop and when to hold back. Revenge is one of those times when we need to hold back, and just take a deep breath, and let it go.

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