Thought Picnic: Earning the Pryce of Revenge in England

England reveals you

Mr. Justin Bieber and his entourage that includes a management team that failed to manage the fallibilities of a pop-star turning into an adult with a fan-base that remains majorly a horde of delirious frenzied kids, might have left the country.

I have no particular dislike for the young man nor can I recognise any of his songs apart from the monotonous Baby that I could not listen to beyond the first minute before I felt like committing hari-kari.

However, England has a way of upending people, there is still a culture and expectation amongst us that foreigners fail to appreciate that they run afoul of all too quickly, Mitt Romney comes to mind.

Help this boy

Earlier, I had expressed utter disdain for the way he traipsed around London with his trousers sagging closer to his ankles than his hips, he deigned to appear literally two hours late, depending on who you believe on a school night for what was essentially a children’s party and then he had a run in with the paparazzi that Justin Bieber suddenly became Justin Bleeper for the expletives that were bleeped out in their encounter.

Walk away, he should have but his exuberance got the better of him and that became the news, that between the sympathy for collapsing on stage, going to hospital, growing older and the other issues as trying to get the under-aged into clubs for his birthday amongst many other things – one can easily suggest his management team be given the pink slip without delay.

Hell receives two new guests

As the saying goes, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned,” we have seen the intoxicating power of revenge and vindictiveness that it consumes all concerned without respite or mercy.

Chris Huhne, a successful businessman turned politician and member of the cabinet not too many moons ago, took his eyes off his wife of 26 years, Vicky Pryce and laid them on his assistant – all hell broke loose and what had been a marital secret with all the little things many will rather not get aired publicly became headline material.

Apparently, Chris has a penchant for putting his foot down hard, well, on the accelerator and cameras littering English roads seem to get excited at ordinary men playing Formula 1 games on our roads, the licence plate number is captured and a little research reveals who the car belongs to – a fine, some points on your licence and maybe a custodial sentence can slow you down to a grinding halt.

A virtuous wife

10 years ago, Chris was caught but he had accumulated enough points to lose his licence if he admitted to his folly, so out of the intricacies of marital God-knows-what, Vicky, the apparently careful driver, vicariously took the points that should have gone to Chris – a virtuous wife who laid down her honour for her husband or as she claims a wife badgered and coerced to do something against her will, her determination and resolve was raped.

So Chris announced to Vicky that he was leaving her, Vicky in her own right is a very successful economist decided all gloves were off and set out to teach her soon-to-be ex-husband a lesson by revealing this secret marital arrangement to the papers, conversations and emails on the matter are quite interesting, thereby ruining Chris’ career, livelihood, fatherly engagement and earning him a conviction that would most likely include jail time.

Oh Vicky, what have you done?

However, in revealing this Vicky had a fight on her hands too, to be able prove that she also did not pervert the course of justice – after one failed trial and another speedy trial, Vicky will most likely head for the slammer too, she might even end up serving longer than Chris in prison – two lives ruined just because one could not walk away.

The irony of this whole saga is that Vicky is now in another relationship with a politician who also had to resign his seat after admitting he submitted false expense claims. Obviously, I will not attempt to draw any conclusions as to the kind of woman Vicky is or the kind of men she attracts; though I am caught between careless and unfortunate.

Into a book of fables

This is no doubt one of the extreme cases where vengeance becomes a black hole, the vortex of which sucks everything into the pit of hell. In other cases, break-ups that have partners denying each other support, parental privileges and other unnecessarily hurtful things that make us less of the people we are or are able to be.

Sometimes you wonder about how people who sometime ago entered into the contract of holy matrimony with all the fanfare, happiness and I dare say, love - after the passage of time and drifting apart that they need to go separate ways turn out to be so bent on destroying each other – they, rather than cherish the memories of the good times they had together, they obliterate everything in the heat of the moment as if that can compensate for anything.

Many newspapers did not need much inspiration to come up with the headline – The Pryce of Revenge – this must go down in the annals of history as a fable and a lesson – If he/she don’t want you no more, walk away and live your life.

Vengeance is mine, always

As if we were not warned before, this is what the Holy Book says; “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” KJV – Romans 12:19

Much as Chris should not have stepped on it trying Formula 1 tricks on English roads, Vicky should not have attempted to step into the Lord’s big shoes.

You Toob Brute Shows the Real Saddam Execution

No dignified execution

I can only add to the sentiments if not indignation of Nkem in African Shirts on the death of Saddam Hussein since he has written his piece before me.

Generally, I have never been in favour of the death penalty because there is no really dignified way of observing a man die except on his deathbed surrounded by those with whom he shares the fellowship of love.

Even in America where an almost blood and gore manifestation of a Moses leadership reminiscent of the Old Testament during the Exodus would find resonance, the states of Florida and California recently suspended all execution activities on humane grounds that the science of killing still caused too much pain and discomfort, it probably unsettles the observers more than the person being killed.

It would appear a bit of modern-day civilisation is creeping in the polity of the death penalty; it can only be the right thing.

We cannot do vengeance right

However, it is interesting to note that even Jesus the leader of the Christian values that the Americans so profess did say that revenge, on the basis of an eye for an eye or a tooth for a tooth was passé, there can be no closure, no restitution, no relief, no release if your life waits for judgment to be taken on those who have offended you, most especially if they have to die.

When the Scripture says vengeance is the Lord’s, there is probably something more at play than we see of the issues that surround us, what if the person that so offended us has now made peace with his God? Here we are baying for blood and flesh, the person with assurance and dignity takes the punishment meted out by his fellowmen who think he is off to hell, but then he is off to the comfort and bosom of his God. What a mystery.

The democracy of information rules

With this out of the way, let us return to the execution of Saddam Hussein, we were offered an official silent movie of the event, however, it became evident that the introduction of talkies did change the way audiences relate to films, someone of the You Tube generation was able to record the whole event and then publish for us to see, vision, sound and all, this is democracy and it is hightime the Iraqi government gave up on trying to find out who gave us this insight into their machinations.

How it could be that amongst the ruling Shia, they could not find people who could hold themselves in dignified reverence at the execution of a man who was once their leader. The ridicule of it all was exemplified in the fact that the man being executed was hoodless whilst his executioners and some of the people who taunted him wore hoods.

It showed how sectarian Iraq had become and how the rush to judicial murder was more an exercise of revenge that followed on from the circus of a trial that he had before. None of what happened as the trap-door swung open would do well to assuage the violence that plagues Iraq.

Dignified in death

If Saddam had anything to say, even at what was his most vulnerable, he was not the broken man we were told he was, in fact, he was a picture of dignity who berated the less-than-men who congregated like a Coliseum crowd that roared to the lions that ate humans or a rowdy mobs of idle hands who witnessed witch-burnings of old.

The savages who were about to eat Allan Quatermain would find a higher pedestal of dignified acknowledgement than these men who for good measure should be exposed for their public shaming.

As America tries to backtrack from being complicit in this rush to dispense of Saddam Hussein before the New Year, it would not be lost amongst the Sunni Muslims that Shia Muslims chose to perform this act in the middle of Hajj – a new schism could well develop out of this singular act – if only men could be more aware of the consequences of their actions.

This was botched execution which in no way would serve the justice and need for peace that the Iraqis do deserve in 2007.