Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Do the laws of retribution still apply.

I was thinking about this today after I accidentally did something that someone claimed was hurtful to them. Once they brought it to my attention, I said I was fine with them doing something of equal hurtfulness back. Which is is reasonable since they claimed I hurt them. As with every other time I have said this, they declined looking horrified that i would even suggest such a thing. It kind of seems like alot of people are taking the nice guy approach, whether it's genuine them having no desire to get even, or trying to send me on a guilt trip that in no way is going to happen.
The first (problem) I see with this, is that if someone did hurt me in a major way I would have no problem with doing something satisfactory back. The second point, about them genuinely not caring I believe. But the part of me that occasionally sees the worst in people can't help but think that they are trying to make me feel bad about them just taking it.

In the end it's not a big deal at all, but at the time it just seemed strange. Having not done anything terribly interesting aside from going to school, I thought this might make a good open discussion if there's any to be had.

14 comments:

  1. i know exactly what you mean.. and i often ask the same question. i for one, think they are just trying to make you feel bad by not doing anything back. in summary=people are dicks.

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  2. I see the point that you're trying to make certainly buddy. It only seems right that if someone takes your eye, you should be able to take their eye too but it doesn't always work out that way. I suppose your friend took offence to whatever it was and was trying to make it look out to be a horrible wrong thing to do and if he had did the same to you he wouldn't have been able to make a big deal out of whatever you did anymore because he had did it too, if that makes sense.

    People are strange!

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  3. THAT is an interesting article..

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  4. "[...]they are trying to make me feel bad about them just taking it."

    That's the thing.
    You know, if you're a nice guy, or if you are trying to be nice, you're just nice. You DON'T WANT the other person to feel bad.

    However, that's the approach that a lot of people take. Making you feel bad.

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  5. @Linde Yes. Yes it is. I am liable to talk about anything that crosses my mind.

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  6. An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind, remember that.

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  7. that's deep, maybe just apologize instead of offering something hurtfull back? since no-one wants that

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  8. Why do you have a problem with people who don't care if you hurt them? I mean if it's just accidentally, maybe some persons just like avoiding violence. If it's on purpose then it's up to each one how they'll respond..

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  9. The key word here is "accident". There is no discussion if you take into consideration that what you did was an accident. Retribution and punishment mean nothing when it comes to accidents.

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  10. I subscribe to the idea of "an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind". Getting revenge for something, especially something that was probably rather trivial is just stupid and petty.

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