Recent events have set me thinking.

Catharsis is usually a good thing, except sometimes, in letting out all the emotion, you let yourself go and lose sight of what truly is important in your life. In the seething rage of vented emotions, you start to make excuses for yourself, assert a moral superiority one doesn't truly lay claim to, and say spiteful things that we don't really mean.

We get upset when people pass judgment on us, but often forget that we pass judgment on others as well when we belittle the people who enrage us. We are not better people in that respect, but infallibly human. Most of us need that validation, that assurance that we are different, but it doesn't change the fact that we are equally human and flawed.

That said, there are people who simply do not understand or care that they pass their impaired judgment on others. Their sole concern in life is self-gratification, to assert themselves over others, living in their own illusions and minor achievements.

There is nothing wrong with being proud of what you achieve, but sometimes we really need to take a step back and understand that there are others who have achieved far more and yet remain humble. Achieving more doesn't connote moral superiority, it doesn't make you any better a person. Being humble does. So is being nice.

There are, however, people who do not understand humility, and misconstrue generosity as weakness, and continue to lay claim to their self-asserted superiority. These are the people who cause hurt and hurt without understanding, and do not truly make friends. They simply make use of friends, taking without giving.

Thus it is my belief neither spiting others nor retaliating in turn are solutions to the problem. Spiting merely reflects your own jealousy and imperfection, while retaliation is really spitting up into the air (and therefore at yourself ). Doing so on a blog or where ever it is you vent your anger makes it worse... it becomes a rumination rather than a catharsis. We really need to let people know how we feel, or simply to tell them why it hurts.

And sadly, perhaps I am guilty of the same rumination. An opinion posted on some silly server online will never change things...