The High Cost of Getting Even

One night years ago, I was travelling through Yellowstone Park. I sat with some other people on a stand of bleachers facing a dense growth of pine and spruce. Eventually a grizzly bear, the terror of the forest, strode out into the glare of the lights and began devouring the garbage that had been dumped there from the kitchen of one of the park’s hotels. Now, a grizzly bear can whip any other animal in the Western world, with the possible exceptions of the buffalo and the Kodiak bear; yet I noticed that night that there was one animal, and only one, that the grizzly permitted to come out of the forest and eat with him under the glare of the lights—a skunk. The grizzly knew that he could kill the skunk with one swipe of his mighty paw. Why didn’t he do it? Because he had found from experience that it didn’t pay.

I have also found that to be true. I have encountered both four- and two-legged skunks during my life and found from sad experience that it doesn’t pay to stir up either variety. When we hate our enemies, we are giving them power over us—power over our sleep, our appetite, our blood pressure, our health, and our happiness.

Our enemies would dance with joy if they knew how they were worrying us, exasperating us, or simply getting even with us. Our hate is not hurting them at all.

But our hate is turning our own days and nights into an agonizing turmoil.

Try to cultivate a mental attitude that will bring you peace and happiness.