GRUDGES | 2004-12-09
Often what I say sounds like a joke, and I hope it amuses you. That's because it sounds so obvious and simple. But if you think about it, you will get some good advice out of what I say.
Here is one example:
If you keep a list of the people who have insulted you and done you harm, it will become a very thick book. Getting all of them back is just plain too much WORK.
On the other hand if you keep a list of the people who have helped you, it will be a very short book.
The names of people who do you good are few and, like all rare things, they are precious. You will never be able to get back at all the people who hurt you, but you can do something for all of those who helped you.
Not the least of the things you can do for them is to let them know you remember what they did and what good people they are. You would like to get a note like that, long after you think the incident was forgotten. So do they.
I am not against revenge. In the nasty worlds I inhabited, I had to have a reputation as somebody who you could not go up against without getting hurt. You are not hearing this from a preacher, but from a scarred old veteran of many kinds of wars. Maybe it is precisely because of that that I appreciate the good guys so much.