There's a saying about dating that goes you have to kiss a few frogs before you find your prince/princess. Unfortunately on the quest for love there will always be those jerks who make our lives a little more complicated, and I would imagine that most serial daters have already encountered one or two of them.
"The Liar", "The Cheater", "The Master Manipulator", "The Commitment-phobic": here are just a few of the many species of frogs squatting on the yellow brick road, ready to leap into our hearts and bruise it up a bit before sending us crying to a pint of Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey. And while these perpetrators may exit the relationship virtually unscathed, we are left to continue down the "Love Road" probably more bitter, skeptical, and less willing to open up than before. Therefore, I wonder, when comes to dealing with those who have not only broken our hearts, but also took advantage of it in the process, is it always better to take the high road than the low road?
I interpret the "High Road" as taking the Jesus approach and turning the other cheek to those who have mistreated us. But honestly, would Batman be adored if The Joker nuked Gotham City into oblivion and all he did was say, "Forgive him, for he does not know any better"...I doubt it.
In life we give a certain amount of credit to people who teach others a well needed lesson in morality, and furthermore, tend to cheer when the villain gets the butt-whippin' his mother apparently never dished out during youth. However, I have noticed that in love we are sometimes encouraged to take our damage with a grain of salt because it is the "graceful" and "grown-up" thing to do. Our friends might tell us to "move on", "ignore the person", "leave it to karma" or "learn your lesson" instead of ordering 50 pepperoni pizzas to that liars house (no I have not done this).
And although I do not disagree with these friends advice, I am not completely against
going out with a bang either, which some might interpret as taking the "Low Road"...(especially if no criminal or long term damage is caused). If the hopeless romantic is forced to wise up for the next relationship, should not the frog be forced to watch before he/she leaps?
Which road do you usually take?
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Comments (22)
I make my own road.
I tear out pages and burn bridges. I have too little time to make amends.
As a Batman scholar, I know Batman would NOT let the nuke happen, but if it did, he would have justice served. He does NOT forgive the Joker. He is too focused on right and wrong and justice. He would be first to track down Mr. J and put him away.
The road I take is the same as Batman's: REVENGE.
<3
Since when did revenge make anyone feel any better?
Revenge leads to hate, hate leads to fear, fear leads to suffering.
Let that be a lesson to all of you, and yes i took that from a movie, because it's true.
@Dramafreak999@xanga - If you think the Batman's only about revenge, you don't know Batman. During his first, brooding years, like those depicted in Year One or in Christopher Nolan's movies (at least up until the end of TDK) you'd be right about him, but as time went on the Batman became more interested in justice.
One of the major themes of The Killing Joke, by Alan Moore, is that the Batman wants to help his foes, but especially the Joker, turn away from their criminal ways if he can, because he fears that if he can't that their rivalry will lead to one or the other being killed (Which, as we all know, is not something Batman is generally prepared to allow). In that instance the Joker balked at the very idea of their fight ending any other way. But in another story, called Going Sane, when the Joker thought Batman was dead, he got reconstructive surgery, gave up crime, and got married. If he ever had a change of heart, I think the Batman would be accepting, though initially VERY suspicious.
To conclude, I think that an important part of both characters is that if things weren't the way they are, if they were just Bruce Wayne and whatever was really the Joker's name once, they could have been friends, and I think that if someone wants forgiveness, it is our obligation to extend it, but not blindly.
ive had the liar/cheater & the commitment phobe... ah....
If somehow Batman was unable to stop the nuke (this sounds like No Man's Land all over again, but with a thermonuclear device instead of an Earthquake) he wouldn't be able to forgive the Joker, the driving point of the character is his inability to let go of the past. Bruce is Ahab and crime is his white whale.
I wrote the book on the low road, and I'm now a preacher of the high one. Personal experience tells me that when I have such an urge to take the low road that if I go ahead and do it, I will only feel worse afterward... (much like how Batman wouldn't let Robin kill Two Face after he murdered his family... hummm)
screw commit-a-phobics, liars, and cheaters... =\
I'm probably somewhere in between. I don't go all out with torturing the person, but I also don't just forget it and move on.
This was ridicuously long...
I read "would batman forgive robin" at first. And the first thing to come to mind was "why would robin cheat on batman?"
i got confused at first =.=
second chances are a crock.
would there be another way other than revenge to teach the liar/cheater a lesson?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZs48lJXhxM
best comeuppance of a bad guy ever. this is the road i would take.
@ROCKtheB0ATx@xanga - sorry, this was just a first draft. i'm surprised it got published, but i posted a much shorter (and hopefully less aggressive) weblog to my page of the same nature.
@pocky_ichigo@xanga - i wish i knew!
@untainted_love_for_her@xanga - Don't tell me anything about Batman. I have a Bachelors degree in English in writing with a consintration in graphic novels and am working on my PhD.. I was just making a little, not in depth comment on this seemingly random Batman reference. You need to reread Hush and Emperor Joker and tell me that Batman isn't about Revenge.
@Dramafreak999@xanga - Hush was awful (not that I'm dismissing it out of hand because of that). I can say Batman is not about revenge for several reasons, among them the following:
1) Where he can, he works with the police.
2) Batman has, in many continuities (including current comic continuity), continued to operate after Joe Chill's death (and therefore the nullification of his vendetta).
3) Batman has been able to forgive his former enemies in the past when they went straight. Perhaps not fully trust them, but at least accept their repentance.
@untainted_love_for_her@xanga - I liked some parts of Hush. I'm talking about revenge not so much in a vindictive, malicous, I'm-gonna-destroy-you way. I believe that the very act of working with the police and putting everyone away is revenge. Once they pay their debt to society, revenge is served. <3
@Dramafreak999@xanga - Ah. Well, see, that is what I would call justice, not revenge.
I'm glad we cleared this up.