When Love Goes Bad, Revenge is Good

One slow September afternoon recently while in Seattle, my husband and I walked across the street to watch the film Rocket Science. Basically, the plot centered on high school students on a debate team. The star of the movie played a character who, in spite of his stuttering, was selected by a key debater to be on the team anyway. The girl who selects him basically has her own agenda in mind, apparently not his. As I described the film later to my daughter, I said, "It was similar to Napoleon Dynamite but realistic. In this movie, the boy gets the girl, not in the usual way, but through revenge." In fact, near the end of the film, the boy states the line, "When love goes bad, revenge is good." It seems that in modern society revenge is the preferred method for settling scores. I am wondering whatever happened to Jesus' advice about turning the other cheek.

During the past week, for example, we have been inundated once more with two stories of high school violence. One was carried out with the perpetrator shooting two students and two teachers in a "success" school before turning the gun on himself. The other was planned, with investigators making a large discovery of weapons in the home of a fourteen-year-old boy in Pennsylvania. Again, as a society, we ask how bullying of these children can lead to such a horrific result. Evidently, for both boys, the warning signals were clear for weeks.

I am sure as the investigations both are conducted many details will be revealed about the personalities of these boys. I will predict, however, that both were marginalized early on in their lives because of differences, perhaps obesity, personality quirks, attention-getting behaviors, or hostility. One can only wonder what might have happened if someone had reached out to them early and with love. Revenge should never be the selected option.