Forgiveness is the noblest revenge
It is a general human, even animal tendency, to harm him who harms us. When someone strikes us, we try to strike back. Retaliation is a natural, almost universal, weakness. If we do not retaliate, it is not because we are unwilling but because we are in most cases, incapable of. Non-retaliation is the product of our weakness, not our forgiveness. Revenge—an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth-or that kind of ‘wild justice’, or brutal retaliation, is the law of savages. But it persists even among the civilized people. Great thinkers and benefactors of mankind have tried to curb this primitive beastliness. They have advised us to rise above this revengefulness; to shed it altogether if possible, to temper justice with mercy. Kshama is the ornament of the brave-is one of the cardinal virtues of the ten commandments of Sanatan Dharma. Lord Buddha taught the lesson of compassion. Christ proclaimed this doctrine of forgiveness most emphatically. He asked us to forgive those who hurt us. In his glorious Sermon on the Mount, he exhorted his disciples to love those who hate them, to turn their right cheek to the person who struck them on their left cheek. The examples of these saviours of humanity illustrate the truth of the saying.
