An Eye for an Eye
When turning on the television, radio, or simply opening the local newspaper, news of arrests, murders, kidnappings, rape, and other such tragedies bombard people. Rarely is there an occasion where people can go throughout a day in this world without hearing of these events. There is a risk one takes when he/she decides to pull a trigger or plunge a knife, but around 1754 B.C. the stakes were even higher. “An eye for an eye” was the motto back when everything was done exactly as it sounded. If a person were to destroy the eye of another person, the man would get his eye taken out; this is why the phrase “an eye for an eye” was made (ushistory.org). This motto is dangerous, rash, and vague, which is why no modern day civilization …show more content…
An eye for an eye can be taken in so many directions: a possession for someone else’s possession, a pinch for a pinch, or even a life for a life. In America today, kids are often taught do onto others as they do to you. Does that mean a child should resort to punching a peer if they did it first? Revenge is defined as “to avenge (as oneself) usually by retaliating in kind or degree”( http://www.merriam-webster.com). There is a slim margin of difference between the meaning behind “an eye for an eye” and the concept of revenge. In other places of the world such as Iran, the people are still under the law of “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”. The story of Ameneh Bahramiy is a tragic example of how this motto is endangering the lives of others. Bahramiy refused to marry Majid Movahedi, and instead of letting the matter go, he threw acid on her. Blinded
When turning on the television, radio, or simply opening the local newspaper, news of arrests, murders, kidnappings, rape, and other such tragedies bombard people. Rarely is there an occasion where people can go throughout a day in this world without hearing of these events. There is a risk one takes when he/she decides to pull a trigger or plunge a knife, but around 1754 B.C. the stakes were even higher. “An eye for an eye” was the motto back when everything was done exactly as it sounded. If a person were to destroy the eye of another person, the man would get his eye taken out; this is why the phrase “an eye for an eye” was made (ushistory.org). This motto is dangerous, rash, and vague, which is why no modern day civilization …show more content…
An eye for an eye can be taken in so many directions: a possession for someone else’s possession, a pinch for a pinch, or even a life for a life. In America today, kids are often taught do onto others as they do to you. Does that mean a child should resort to punching a peer if they did it first? Revenge is defined as “to avenge (as oneself) usually by retaliating in kind or degree”( http://www.merriam-webster.com). There is a slim margin of difference between the meaning behind “an eye for an eye” and the concept of revenge. In other places of the world such as Iran, the people are still under the law of “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”. The story of Ameneh Bahramiy is a tragic example of how this motto is endangering the lives of others. Bahramiy refused to marry Majid Movahedi, and instead of letting the matter go, he threw acid on her. Blinded