Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Revenge Therapy


Revenge Therapy



The Count of Monte Cristo can be called the ultimate revenge story and it has sold well for centuries.



Revenge stories always work.



Why?



Have you ever been in a long line at a store? You wait patiently, checking your watch/cell phone, just waiting...and waiting. You look up to see five people in front of you...four...two...zero. You reach the front of the line and then whoops.



The cashier turns off the helping sign and it's on to the next line for more...



Waiting.



Eventually you either set your items down and leave or you may go as far as to hurl the items in air. You might even try to run out of the store WITH the items. Either way, there is plenty of cause for chaos at this point.



But that's just for starters.



Let's say you have a relationship that goes fine at first but the significant other takes steps to cut things off with no real reason. Not too bad. We've all been there.



However let's say that things go much further before the other decides this is not for them. Let's say an engagement. Now they've met your relatives and friends and you can see your future and have a good idea of where you're going and then they just drop the ball out of nowhere and call everything off.



Wow.



Time to erase the plans you had.



Hold on.



Let's say you are married to this person. A few months down the road after vows have been exchanged before your friends and family, NOW the ball drops. You thought you had everything in order but no.



Just kidding.



You have to go through the painful process of divorce which consumes plenty of your time and money which most of us never have enough of.



Let's step it up a bit.



You have been married for five years. You and your partner are the proud parents of two children. NOW everything is in order and your daily routines are how you want them to be. Nothing could be better than being content on your choices and where you're headed.



And then the ball drops.



Ah, man.



Are you kidding me?



Now you have to go through a divorce which with children involved will be messy to say the least. You have to explain to them why mommy and daddy don't want to be together anymore and on and on. Then there's custody and visitations and all those lovely things.



Yes.



Chaos.



But why stop there?



Let's say that your partner has decided to do more than drop the ball on you that they don't want to be together anymore. Let's say they are planning on murdering you.



Now on the one hand, if they planned on killing you and they pulled it off, well, end of story.



However if you figured out their plans, now we have a good story going. Let's say you manage to get away from them and cannot prove their intentions. The law would help but the law has to have proof.



Still the former partner hounds you and hassles you and still tries to find a way to do you in and you know all about it. Along with all the other stresses in your daily life like work, paying bills and keeping up with the kids, you have this threat looming over you.



Sure.



There are restraining orders and lots of legal ways to keep an enemy at bay but well they don't always protect you. You know it's coming but you don't know when and where. Let's say now that the ex-partner acquires full custody of the kids.



And you are left with nothing.



All the planning out and working and struggling has left you alone with nothing to show for it besides two children whose minds will be twisted by whatever their psychopathic parent is filling their innocent little heads with.



Are you ready for revenge yet?



All too often in our normal lives, we incur difficulties as the result of another and many times, we wish in our darkest moments that we could make that person go away.


I believe revenge stories hone in on that desire some of us have and while they may be focusing on our darker elements simply for entertainment I do believe that maybe living out our revenge fantasies through a work of fiction is much better than actually carrying out any sort of plan ourselves.


So here's to revenge fiction and how therapeutic it can be!!




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