So just how far would you go to take revenge on a person who had seriously hurt or upset you? I know I can be a very vindictive person if I know the person who has "done me wrong" has no remorse, or has not apologised to me, (with any sincerity). Many say revenge is not a good move, and we will only damage ourselves by doing this, (although I beg to differ within reason, as justifiable revenge has given me a great sense of relief and closure in the past).

It is not always about the obvious crimes such as infidelity, it can be so much worse, and if legal justice does not pan out, then what is so wrong with seeing justice done other ways, after all, if someone got away with murder, and ended up not being sentenced to death for it, can you blame the surviving relatives for wanting the same end result for the perpetrator?

My big question is, how far do you take it? My previous hub on the subject of revenge was fairly tame, and in general, included amusing ways to get satisfaction against those cruel and nasty individuals who have either hurt you, or made your life a misery for whatever reasons.

So where do we begin? Let's try how we would feel if someone had molested our child! My guess is that "private" revenge would include a judgement far worse than any court would impose. In my opinion this would be totally okay, as the guilty party had no mercy on the victim, therefore deserves no mercy from other humans, (especially the family of the child or children involved). Forget the "human rights" cry that "do gooders" shout, I doubt there opinions would be so rigid once their own families were the victims!

Then we could go on to someone murdering a much loved parent of ours. Would we honestly not feel incredibly in need of extreme pain and justice being inflicted on the perputrator, and could we really forgive, or show mercy to this person? I know I couldn't! I doubt I could sleep at night knowing the murderer could be released from prison at some point in the future, whilst my family member was dead forever! Anyone who has ever watched the TV series "Disorder in the Courts of America" will know how strongly feelings can run when a family member is in the same room as the criminal who hurt or killed their loved ones. Frequently the rage and anger take over, and violence ensues, to a degree that you can only see fury in the eyes of the victim's family, and all reason or ability to back down has gone from their consciousness.

What about our pets! If you knew a person had deliberately inflicted torture on your pet would you be happy to see that person taken to court, fined a couple of hundred pounds or dollars, and then walk free, when you know that had they done the same to a child they would have been locked up for it? This would never be enough for me, and I still get extremely angry at the fact the sentences for animal cruelty are so light they are hardly any deterrent at all. If it were down to me the best form of justice, (or revenge), would be for the same torture to be inflicted on the human that did this to the animal.

Then we have those awful neighbours who can make your life a living hell, with loud music, unruly kids, vermin infested homes, racist abuse, vandalism of your property etc. Often it takes years to get any kind of solution to these kinds of problems, and the more complaints you make to the authorities, the more the neighbours make your life a misery, whilst nothing seems to be done by the very people who are meant to prevent this kind of behaviour. I know in these instances revenge can end up being a spiral that escalates out of control as each neighbour tries to get their own back for the previous attack, but there have to other more subtle ways of ensuring they get their comeuppance, e.g. reporting them to the authorities for benefit fraud, anonymously notifying their employer as to the kind of employee they have working for them or maybe even paying someone a few quid to have a "quiet word with them down a dark alley".

Infidelity can provoke the worst cases of revenge. The sense of betrayal and hurt are often too much for many to bear, and plenty of murders have been committed on this basis, be it of the spouse, or the person they were having an affair with. Then of course there are the occasions the innocent member of the partnership or marriage is murdered by the jealous lover who wants the affair to become a more "permanent" arrangement.

There are the gangland type revenge cases, where a member of the gang has been killed by a rival gang. These retaliations are often the most vicious, and are designed to be a warning to other gangs that this gang is "not to be messed with".

Of course we also have the cases of those who "grass up" or "give evidence against", another person to the Police. Whether or not the person "grassed up" was guilty, or deserved to be imprisoned, this is still often followed by acts of severe revenge on the "grass" themselves, hence such long term solutions as the "Witness Protection Programme".

What about rape, how would you react if it were your child, or your spouse (male or female)? I doubt you would be happy to see this person get a few years in prison and then be released back into society without it dwelling on your mind! Surely you would not only want to know where this person was at all times, but would like to see them castrated as well to avoid them doing this to anyone else, (I know I would happily wield the knife to do the "operation").

Of course some of the most famous revenge cases have been from the Mafia of various countries. Anyone who has ever read the book "The Godfather" or seen the film, or perhaps followed the more recent television series "The Sopranoes", will know that there is level of respect demanded between Mafia families, and to breach this is to sign your own death warrant. The examples I have given are of course fictional, but that is not to say they are not based on excellent research by the writers, and that such things have never happened. Even now, it is a matter of public record the kind of activities and shootings that went on during the Al Capone days.

Look at the Kray twins in London, Ronnie Kray was notorious for his violence, and few dared to cross him, and those that did suffered major consequences.

So to return to my original question, how far would you take revenge? Could you kill, would you try to make the person's life a misery or would you simply walk away and put it out of your mind?