I've told y'all that story about walking along the marina in Beaufort, NC looking at the pretty boats? There was a three-masted schooner, dark green with teak and brass fittings, white steel masts and rigging. Lettered across her beam in gold gothic letters: "Best Revenge." Tied behind like a colt to its mare, the dinghy in the same colors and lettering: "Living Well".

I've spent an awful lot of time stewing and plotting revenge, and have come to realize that unproductive anger of any sort is wasted energy. And also that, really, I can't ever affect how anyone else lives their life, the only one I'm responsible for is mine. So I'm not in charge of anyone else's asshattery, I'm in charge of how I respond to it. I tend to sputter a bit, and then consciously let it go, choose not to respond.

Like Laura, I get them out of my life whenever I can. If I must have dealings with them, I keep it as much surface level as possible. Unless they hurt somebody I care about--then if I can damage them, I will. If I can't, then I simply pray that they get what they deserve, even if I never find out about it.

I'm an atheist-leaning agnostic. It may be my Southern Baptist upbringing, but I'm plagued by my moral code--I mean, to the point where I'm guilt-ridden for keeping less than a dollar's worth of overpaid change. It keeps coming back to the line from Angel, "If nothing we do matters, then all that matters is what we do."

Christianity--or any other religion--doesn't make you moral or ethical. Morals and ethics make you the type of Christian--or other faith--you are.

Lettered across her beam in gold gothic letters: "Best Revenge."

I'm guessing there's a divorce settlement involved in this somewhere. One of my favorite vanity license plates that I've heard about was of the top-of-the-line Mercedes with the plate "WAS HIS".

There was a three-masted schooner, dark green with teak and brass fittings, white steel masts and rigging. Lettered across her beam in gold gothic letters: "Best Revenge."

Hee. In the marina where our boats are docked in Canada during the summer, we occasionally see a yacht named "The Kids' Inheritance."

FWIW, I was mostly interested in what actions inspired feelings of revenge. Not necessarily whether revenge was worth taking. Though that's an interesting topic in its own right. Like Bev and Laura I've had to consciously walk away from my anger to keep my soul intact.

But since I'm pestering the board, I've been wondering this...

When were you the closest to dying?

David, your next question better be something like "When have you had the most fun while surrounded by twenty-three adorable puppies?"

I am now in stage Sneezeyourbrainsout.

I ate my lunch at 10:30.

But! I had lots and lots of hot water this morning. Nice long shower.

FWIW, I was mostly interested in what actions inspired feelings of revenge. Not necessarily whether revenge was worth taking. Though that's an interesting topic in its own right. Like Bev and Laura I've had to consciously walk away from my anger to keep my soul intact.

Right. I mean, since no one here has actually posted their tales of revenge on these people, presumably we've all had our reasons not to give in to our worse instincts. It's almost mandatory to mentally distinguish between the person you are and the person they are.

When were you the closest to dying?

That's a toss up between appendicitis and sitting up on the back of a 60's era white Cadillac convertible going 100 mph+ down a back road in Maine.

Granted, the latter I wasn't so much aware of how close I was to buying it, but in retrospect it seems pretty obvious. Ah, those "immortal" teenage years.

As to the former, there was a big "oh please just let me die" component to it, even though the appendix never actually burst, but I figure it's a pretty life threatening condition nonetheless. All in all quite a brush with mortality for someone in the 8th grade.

I think I was closest to dying once when I merged onto some godawful highway in New Jersey - I suddenly found my lane was disappearing and there were two lanes to the left of me and three lanes to the right all going about 75 and honking at ME.

I also had a panicked moment when I jumped into a pool, drunk, in my underwear, at a kibbutz in Israel, and swallowed water and couldn't breathe, and had to marshal myself to get to the side and pant for several minutes. There were lots of people around, but nobody seemed to notice Me Drowning Here!