Chapter 38 we should never take revenge

Jesus said: Love your enemies.Even if we can't love our enemies, we should at least love ourselves more. We should not let our enemies control our mood, health and appearance. When we harbor hatred for an enemy, we give the other party greater power to overwhelm us, giving him the opportunity to control his appetite, blood pressure, sleep and health, and even his mood.If the enemy knows that it will bring so much trouble to the other party, he must be very happy.Because hatred can't hurt the other person's hair, but it turns my life into a purgatory. In Uppsala, Sweden, there was a man named John Rohner who was practicing as a lawyer in Vienna.He returned to Sweden before World War II.He was penniless at the time and desperately needed to find a job.He can speak several languages, so he wants to find an import and export company to do the clerical work.Most of the companies wrote back saying they didn't need the service at the moment because of the war, but they would keep his data and so on.One of them wrote back to Rohner that he was completely wrong about the company and that they didn't need paperwork.Even if he were hired, he would not choose someone who could not write Swedish well.When Rona received this letter, he was very angry.The Swede dared to say that he did not understand Swedish.His own reply was full of mistakes.So Rona wrote a letter that was enough to piss off the other party.When he was about to send it, he immediately realized that although he had learned Swedish, it was not his mother tongue.Maybe I really made a mistake. If this is the case, I should study harder.The man may have helped himself, even though he expressed himself poorly.So Rona tore up that letter and decided to write another thank you letter.The content of the letter is this: they don't need paperwork at all, and it's great to write back to themselves.The letter also said that I was wrong in judging your company, and I am really sorry.I wrote that letter because someone told me at the time that he was the leader of the industry.I don't know that I made a grammatical mistake, so I am ashamed.But I will work harder to learn Swedish, reduce mistakes, and thank you.A few days later, Rona received a reply asking him to meet at the office.Rona went as promised and got the job. Rona himself found a way to "dispel anger with gentleness."

General Eisenhower's son was asked if his father held a grudge against the enemy.He replied that his father never wasted a minute thinking about people he didn't like. There is a saying that those who cannot be angry are fools, and those who cannot be angry are wise. Former New York Mayor William Galen used this as his political principle.He had been shot and nearly died.As he lay in bed struggling to survive, he said that every night before he went to bed, he would forgive everyone and everything.In his Pessimism, the German philosopher Schopenhauer compared life to a painful journey, yet in the depths of despair he said that no one should harbor hatred if possible.

A national park in Canada features a scenic view of a mountain named in honor of British nurse Edith Cowell, who was martyred in German troops on October 12, 1915.At her home in Belgium, she took care of wounded French and American troops and assisted in their escape to the Netherlands.On the morning of her execution, an English chaplain in the army visited her in the Brussels barracks where she was imprisoned, and she said she had only now understood that patriotism was not enough and that she should not hold grudges and hold grudges against anyone. In 1918, Jones, a black teacher and missionary in Mississippi, was about to be executed.It was still World War I, and rumors were circulating in Mississippi that German troops were about to stage a black coup.Jones was convicted of plotting rebellion and was to be sentenced to death.At that time, a group of white people heard Jones say in the church outside the church: Life is a struggle, and black people should take up arms and fight for survival and success.When these white youths heard "battle, arms," ​​they rushed into the church excitedly, tied Jones with a rope, dragged him a mile away, pushed him to the gallows, lit the firewood, and prepared to hang him.Then someone shouted: Let him speak.So Jones stood on the gallows with a rope around his neck and began to talk about his life and ideals.

He graduated from the University of Idaho in 1907.When he graduated, someone asked him to join the hotel industry, and someone offered to pay for his music education, but he refused.Because he was passionate about an ideal, influenced by Booker Washington, he aspired to educate his impoverished countrymen.So he went to the southern part of the United States to find the most backward place, that is, a remote place in Mississippi, pawned his watch for $165, and started a school in the wild.To the angry crowd who were about to execute him, Jones told of his struggle to educate out-of-school children and train them to be useful farmers, laborers, cooks and housekeepers.He also told these white people that during the process of building his school, some white people had given him land, wood, pigs, cattle, sheep, and money to assist him in completing his educational work.

The mob started to soften when Jones made such a heartfelt and touching talk especially that he was not pleading for himself but only for his mission, and finally a few old men said they believed what he said was true and that he was doing good deeds.They should have helped him, not executed him.And the old people began to raise $52 for him in the crowd to dedicate to his educational work. Jones was asked afterwards if he resented those who were about to hang him.His answer was that he was too busy talking about bigger things than himself to hate. The school founded by Jones has now become a well-known school in the United States.

From Hurd's "Lincoln Biography", we can see that Lincoln never judged people according to his own likes and dislikes.He always thought his enemies were as capable as anyone.If someone offended him or treated him badly, Lincoln would have no hesitation in asking him for the position, as he would a friend, if he was the most suitable person. Lincoln has appointed those who have insulted him to very high positions.Like McClung, Schwart, Stanton and Rice.According to Hurd, Lincoln believed that no one should be praised or blamed for what he did, because each of us was shaped by the conditions and circumstances of our education, and formed habits and characteristics that shaped our present and future.

Lincoln may be right.If everyone inherited the same physical, mental, and emotional traits as his enemy, if everyone lived exactly the same way, he might do exactly the same thing as his enemy.Therefore, instead of hating our enemies, let us have mercy on them, and instead of cursing and retaliating against our enemies, we should give them forgiveness, sympathy, assistance, tolerance, and prayers for them.