Dave Martin

To refrain from imitation is the best revenge.
– Marcus Aurelius from Meditations

If someone pisses you off, upsets you, even disappoints you, you have two options:
1. Do exactly the same back to them, because you know, fuck em. They deserve it.
or,
2. Realise that they –like you– are figuring out this whole life thing as they go along, and 99 out of 100 people don’t mean to be assholes for no reason¹, and keep your mind and tranquility steady and deal with it with your usual reasoning. And realise that it’s not the thing they’re doing that’s pissing you off or upsetting you, but how you see it.

Okay, get ready for some mega-amateur Socratic examination up in here…

So if:
A shitty act can only be done by shitty people, then whatever someone just did to you –in your eyes at least– makes them a shitty person.
So, therefore if you do a similar shitty act in revenge, you then also = shitty person.

But if you were to, as George Costanza did, do the opposite, that would make you the opposite of a shitty person. If you think a shitty, revolting, wretched thing can only be done by shitty, revolting, and wretched people, doesn’t doing the opposite of what that shitty person did make you the opposite of them? An admirable person, an attractive person, a virtuous person, and even, a Good person?

——

¹That’s my guess. I’d say about 1/100 people do want to fuck other people up, because of whatever shit went on or they have going on in their lives.