Revenge

     I've been watching the TV show "Revenge."  The main character is carrying out a well planned and complicated revenge scheme.  I suppose the show appeals to people because most of us have wanted vengeance at one time or another.  Watching Amanda/Emily get even allows the audience to experience their own vicarious retaliation for wrongs done without the possibility of jail time.
     And yet, for some people, watching television isn't enough.  They have to step over the line and retaliate when they have been hurt.  Did you read about the dentist who pulled out all of her boyfriend's teeth because he broke up with her?
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/dentist-pulls-her-ex-boyfriend-teeth-split-210829769.html
The dentist is being investigated for malpractice.  The only teeth she'll be working on for the next three years will be those of her fellow inmates.

     "Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned/ Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned."
                                                                       William Congreve in "The Mourning Bride," 1697

     The library has books that detail the many ways scorned women have exacted revenge.  Okay, so I read a couple of them years ago when a guy dumped me.  All of these primers start out by saying that the books are written as entertainment, not as "how to" guides.  While none of the reprisals outlined in the books come close to the bunny boiling antics of Glenn Close in "Fatal Attraction," they have a certain evil genius.  The best revenge is tailored to the victim.  One deposed girlfriend repeatedly stole her ex-boyfriend's license plates because she knew he hated, more than anything else in the world, standing in line at the motor vehicle office.  Another woman planted thousands of plastic forks, tines up, in her ex's from lawn just before a hard freeze.  His greatest pride was his perfectly manicured lawn.
     Lest you think women are the only ones getting tit for tat, I'd like to mention George Hayduke.  It is suspected that the name George Hayduke is a pseudonym.  Mr. Hayduke is known as the "Meanest Man in the World" and the "Master of Revenge."  He has published twenty-three volumes outlining how to avenge a perceived wrong.  His tactics range from annoying, to illegal, to dangerous.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Hayduke_(author) Hayduke says there are eleven "commandments" that must be followed when you plot revenge.  They are:
      1. Never trust or confide in anyone.
      2. Never use your own phone.
      3. Never touch revenge documents with your bare hands.
      4. Pick through your victim's garbage.
      5. Bide your time.
      6. Get a mail drop in another city.
      7. Learn everything about your victim.
      8. Pay cash in a revenge plot.
      9. Trade with merchants who have never heard of you and wear a disguise.
    10. Never threaten your victim.
    11. Never leave evidence lying around (like one of Hayduke's books).
This guy is truly scary.  His brand of revenge goes way beyond stolen license plates and plastic forks.
     Justice is societal, but revenge is personal. http://thesaurus.com/browse/revenge  We've all been told not to take things personally.  We've also been told that success is the best revenge.  Give it a couple of decades and the hoochie mama who stole your boyfriend will become someone who did you a big favor.  The office schemer who beat you out of a job will become the person who spurred you on to find your true calling.  And the guy who dumped you will be totally whipped by the frigid bitch who was so much more attractive than you.  Now that's what I'm talkin' about!