Pain and Torture.

There seem to be a lot of people about the place that enjoy, in some way or another, either inflicting pain, or seeing other people in pain, getting others to inflict pain....people seem to like pain. It's one of the reasons that Funniest Home Videos is so successful. And many of these people wouldn't call themselves sadistic. It's just...expected, almost. Laughing at other people's hurts and pains.

And even more extreme, when you look at things like war. You get different sorts of people, in a war - people that are there because they have to be, and those that are there because they choose to be, they want to be. The former just kill people quickly. The latter cause people pain, torture people, hurt people. Waterboarding is a technique that has come under scrutiny before, unsurprisingly. I'm not sure what the last word on that was, or even if there can be a last word with that sort of thing.

But with all these sort of things - it's wrong. It's just wrong. It doesn't matter what they, their family, their friends, country, whatever, have done to you/your family/friends/country, it doesn't mean that you hurt them back. An eye for an eye, or fighting fire with fire, will just leave everyone burning and blind. It's not a good world to live in. Don't cause other people pain. There is only one instance in when people can - and that is when, in doing so, they are preventing a greater pain from being done. But even then, they do so with the least pain they can. None at all, if possible. Pain is not a weapon we were meant to wield.

But the thing is, of course, there's not just physical pain and torture. There is emotional. Spiritual. Mental. Social. And I'm sure there are others as well. And many people are masters at causing these sorts of pain, sometimes more so than the physical. And these are just as bad, sometimes worse. Usually, you can see a bruise, a scar, a gash. You might not be able to see when someone is hurting emotionally, or mentally.

But the same principle applies here. Don't cause other people pain. Any sort of pain. Love people, don't hate them. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering. And this, my friends, is the path to the dark side, that shadowy place. That's beyond our borders. You must never go there, Simba. ;)

Keep On Laughing.