Two Graves

Confucius once said, “Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.” Revenge is very popular these days in American culture. Whether it’s the novels of Stephen King and John Grisham, or new shows streaming on Netflix, many of their stories are consumed with exacting vengeance against enemies. Americans have a hankering for retribution, not mere justice. There is a certain level of satisfaction in revenge, even if it is an empty satisfaction.

Earlier this month, Luigi Mangione shot United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in the back, killing him in an act of vengeance because Mangione disagreed with the corporate practices of the health insurance giant that Thompson was the CEO of. Members of Congress leaped at the opportunity to justify this cold-blooded revenge killing because of their hatred for the health insurance industry. He is also receiving love letters from “groupies” as he sits in jail, and groups are fundraising for his legal defense. Hollywood is already planning on producing two documentaries about Luigi Mangione killing Brian Thompson. And on the Saturday Night Live this week, the audience cheered in approval when Mangione’s name was mentioned during the show.

There have been a number of acts of vengeance that have occurred this month. On December 4th, Glenn Litton opened fire on the playground of the Feather River School of Seventh-Day Adventists in California, critically wounding a 5-year-old and a 6-year-old. He left a note, claiming his actions were a “countermeasure in necessitated response to America’s involvement with genocide and oppression of Palestinians along with attacks towards Yemen.” So, two little kids in California who knew nothing about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict were shot in retaliation of the treatment of the Palestinians in Gaza.  

Last week, 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow went into the Abundant Life School in Madison, Wisconsin with a handgun, shooting people at will, leaving one student and one teacher dead and six others injured, including two people who are facing life-threatening injuries. Her manifesto was filled with a vengeance mindset. She wrote about her “war against humanity”, claiming that “I am invisible until I do something they can’t ignore.” She expressed resentment toward her classmates, describing them as “part of the disease called humanity.” She also wrote, “If the world doesn’t care that I exist, it will care when I don’t.”

She appeared to be a vengeful extreme feminist, writing, “men are irredeemable… They’re a f***ing scourge upon the earth… The only solution is to total exterminate them and every fool who worships these f***ing parasites. Every single male must be wiped out, from babies to the elderly. Only then can women be free to create a new world… I’ve been craving to kill them all.” So, a child is murdered because she believes that men are evil and irredeemable, but in her short life, she harmed more people much worse than 99.999% of men.

On Friday night in Magdeburg, Germany, 50-year-old doctor Taleb al-Abdulmohsen plowed his car into a crowd of people at a Christmas market, killing five and injuring 200 people. Magdeburg Public Prosecutor’s office, Horst Walter Nopens, said that al-Abdulmohsen was “disgruntlement with the way Saudi Arabian refugees are treated in Germany.” So, his idea of revenge against Germany is to kill 5 innocent people.

Where did these four people’s pursuit of revenge land them? Natalie Rupnow and Glenn Litton are dead. They are in graves they dug for themselves. Both Luigi Mangione and Taleb al-Abdulmohsen are in a prison cell right now and are facing the rest of their natural lives staring at four cinder block walls. What did any of these four accomplish with their actions? Nothing. What will change because of their deadly actions? Nothing. All they did was kill people, and either end or destroy their own lives. What do you think Luigi Mangione is thinking right now? He could be spending Christmas in the lap of luxury, as part of one of the wealthiest families in Maryland as he stares at the walls of his 6 by 8 cell closing in on him minute after minute. Does he think his pursuit of revenge was a good decision?

Jesus said, “love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you”.  The modern day left believes the exact opposite. They believe that we should hate our enemies and destroy those who disagree with us. The reason why the Democrats were left holding the bag after the 2024 election is because after they won in 2020, they pursued revenge. They were hell bent on getting Trump. They raided his home; they jailed his associates; they put them on trial – not in a pursuit of justice, but in a pursuit of revenge. From 2021 through 2024, the Democrats were digging their own grave, and on November 7, 2024, they were forced to lay down in it.

At the end of the movie, Lincoln, right before the south signs the official surrender at the Appomattox Court House in Virginia, President Lincoln tells General Grant, “whatever may be proven by blood and sacrifice must have been proved by now… Once he [General Lee] surrenders, send his boys back to their homes and their farms, their shops… Liberality all around, not punishment. I don't want that. And their leaders, Jeff and the rest of them, they escape, leave the country while my back's turned, that wouldn't upset me none.” At that moment, Lincoln had a bigger agenda for the United States than vengeance – no matter how deserved that vengeance was. He and all of us, were the victims of the vengeance of John Wilkes Booth.

Should Trump’s DOJ or the members of the Republican controlled House go after Trump’s enemies like Liz Cheney? If there’s clear evidence, that she committed a crime then she should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, if this is just a revenge prosecution to get back at her for joining the January 6 committee, we’re digging our own grave. If the most just thing to do is for her to be prosecuted, that she should be prosecuted. If the most just thing to do is for her, not to be prosecuted, then she shouldn’t be prosecuted. Pursue justice, not revenge.

Right now, President Donald Trump has a much bigger agenda than vengeance against those who attempted to destroy him with politically motivated lawfare. Over the next four years, the left and their surrogates in the mainstream media will try to lure Trump into pursuing revenge against Liz Cheney, Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden and the like, because they know, the more Trump pursues that path, the less he will be able to do for the people of America, and the more the Republicans will end up in 2028, where the Democrats did in 2024, on the losing side, out of power.

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Mr. Garrett is a graduate of Princeton University, and a former NFL player, coach, and executive. He has been a contributor to the website Real Clear Politics. He has recently published his first novel, No Wind.