Once Upon a Time........

I was sick last night and couldn't sleep, I was in a bad mood, so I wrote a story.

YES, It's Story Time. Today’s story is titled Craving Vengeance.

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It’s a beautiful day in your neighborhood.

(Whistle that tune for a minute before starting to read).

You are very wealthy and successful, and are well respected and admired. You live in a very diverse neighborhood. All religions and ethnicities are represented. Some are rich, others are poor, and some in the middle.

One of your neighbors belongs to a religion that is very vocal and strict. He always complains that everyone else is wrong, that we all and heathens and are going to hell. His religion believes that it’s okay to kill those who don't agree with your religion, but you live in a country where believe you are safe. You support his business by buying his goods, thinking it’s okay for people to disagree, as long as they don't infringe on others citizen’s liberties. But your neighbor, because of his religion, believes he is above the law.

Now, because your neighbor religion defines you as a heathen, you neighbor plots acts of violence against you, and one day he sends his son over to your house to blow himself up and kill as many of your family as he can. Your house is damaged and your son is killed in the attack, never having a chance to defend himself. Your neighbor believes this was a holy religious act, and that his son is now in a fantasy paradise land, and that he is looked now upon very well by his Creator. According to the law of the land, however, this was a cowardly criminal act. Your neighbor knows he will be wanted and goes into hiding, all the best police cannot find him.

Because you don't want him or his family in your neighborhood again, you destroy his house and kill many of his families’ members and many innocent bystanders in the process.

But your neighbor still cannot be found.

There are many other families in the neighborhood that are the same religion as the guy that killed your son and damaged your home. They don't agree with the way he practiced his religion, they are not as extreme as your former neighbor was, they are friendly and do not disturb others on your neighborhood. You don't care, you never liked them anyway and because they are the same religion, and had communicated with the neighbor in the past; you see them as the same. You want them out of the neighborhood. When they refuse to leave, you destroy their houses, killing many of them, and lots of innocent bystanders.

Your neighbor that killed your son is still in hiding. He is not really free, because he cannot go anywhere he wants, he is in a prison of his own making, but he has not been brought to justice.

In the meantime, you spy on all your neighbors making sure that none of them are plotting against you. You feel you are justified because a bad thing happened to you. You continue to try to control your neighbors that were the same religion that hurt you, even though they have left you alone and they are now fighting amongst themselves, killing each other and destroying properties because of the religious beliefs. Because you have been so unjust in your reprisal, they are plotting against you, hoping to destroy you, for their own safety. You use that information to become even more violent and intolerant, and continue your doctrine of evil and hate against people of this religion, even though they originally did not support the neighbor that committed crimes against you. Events continue to escalate, and more and more innocent bystanders are killed in the process. Most of your neighbors are against the way you handled this whole episode and demand you stop, but you continue, listening to no one, doing your own thing, against the advice of others with experience in handling these kinds of affairs. You continue even though you have failed to stop the violence. You continue, when the whole neighborhood, except for a few, want you to stop. You continue, even though the guy that killed your son was never found, and probably will never be. You continue, even though you infringe on the liberties of citizens, liberties that you once believed in, but you stop believing because a guy from a different religion, who didn't like you having those liberties, and wanted you to throw them in the trash, hurt you. You gave them up to be safer, but now even more people want to hurt you.

The guy who killed your son was successful in changing your ideology, but he never changed his.

The wealth you once had is gone, the respect is gone, and the admiration is gone. The Liberties you once enjoyed are gone. More people want to hurt you now than ever before, you spend all your time and money trying to defend yourself from these “enemies” and trying to remove them from the neighborhood, but when they leave one place they just move into some other place.

And many innocent bystanders are being killed, to avenge your son’s death, but your son is still dead. Your neighbor completed his goal of trying to change the way you live. You have become like him, but you kill more people.

Will this story have a happy ending? Will your neighbors stop your bloody reign? Will you face justice? The answer is _____.

I have a believable ending for this story, but you don’t get that yet. You first must think about what has happened, and let your emotions develop.