One way or another I'm gonna find you. I'm gonna getcha getcha getcha getcha.
I'm sure you've got this popular revenge song by Blondie is stuck in your head right now. You're welcome. Although we all hate getting songs stuck in our head, it seems that often times we find ourselves listening to bitter anthems that encourage a fire to burn inside of us. A fire that says, "you hurt me and now you will pay." Although we've all been taught to turn the other cheek and do unto others as we would want done to ourselves, we've all gone through times in our lives where we want to get back at someone.
I'm here to tell you that a desire for revenge is not always a bad thing. Especially during sports.
Ever since I can remember, one of my mom's favorite sayings was "two wrongs don't make a right." And in general, I whole-heartedly agree with this statement. However, during the sport of track and field, I believe that it is my spirit of revenge that makes me as competitive as I am, thus making me a beter runner. During my track career, I am ashamed to admit that more than once someone has beaten me at the line and I've been hundredths of seconds away from coming in first, or scoring points from my team. But, I can also tell you that every time a situation like this occurs, I will remember the person that edged me out, and the the next time that I race her, I will push harder and make sure that if she does beat me again, she's going to have to earn it. It's the revenge inside of me that gets the adrenaline in my body pumping and puushes me to run harder the last fifty meters. It's nothing personal. I just want to win. And in order for that to happen, people have to lose.
The same thing is true for me in soccer. If an opponent gets by me, or if I get beat, you better believe that the next time that me and the same opponent are in a 1v1 situation, I will be the one that come out with the ball. It's that revengeful attitude that fuels me into doing well in a game where the one who has more gut and and wants it more is the one who usually comes out on top. Every time I get beat, it's revenge that gives me that extra bit of energy that is needed that makes me a good athlete.
Take Abby Wambach, United States Women's Soccer National Team Player, FIFA Woman Player of the Year in 2012, and my favorite soccer player ever, for example. Abby is a fighter, and when the USWNT lost to Japan in the World Cup in 2011, it was Abby that made sure that when the 2012 London Olympics rolled around, the United States team would end up on top.
Abby Wambach and USWT Seek Revenge in London | Video - ABC News
Abby Wambach probably had a lot of respect for the women on the Japan team. But that didn't mean that the fire of revenge did not burn inside of her every day for a year, encouraging her to work hard and make sure that the US team would bring home a gold metal. And that's exactly what happened.
There's no doubt that revenge has even been around since the 16th century when Shakespeare was writing Hamlet. In this play, Hamlet, after much debating, decides that he must seek revenge in the name of his father by killing his uncle Claudius, the man that murdered his father. A bit more of an extreme example of revenge as compared to playing soccer, huh? In killing Claudius, Hamlet is also getting revenge on his mother because she married Claudius a few weeks after King Hamlet's death. Hamlet is hurt that his mother would do such a thing, and killing Claudius will allow him to make her feel the same pain that he feels by her actions. Hamlet feels that the only way to make the situation right, is to, "give Claudius a bit of his own medicine."
We all feel revenge. And whether we use this feeling for good or for bad is up to us. Sure, the next time I get beat in a race I'm going to feel revengeful towards my opponent, but I'm not going to go as far as to murder her like Hamlet plans to do.
I am however going to say, "So What?" You Oughta Know that next time we meet, you're going down.
Sources:
Abby Wambach and USWNT Seek Revenge in London (ABC News)
"So What?" (Pink)
"You Oughta Know" (Alanis Morsette)
"One Way or Another" (Blondie)
Hi Abby! I love love loved this blog. It not only informed me with what revenge means, but it also brought out your personality. I loved that you included facts about your life to make it more interesting. I never would have thought of that! You tied in Hamlet very well to it even though it was probably tricky. GREAT JOB ABBY
ReplyDeleteI always love reading the things you write Abby, your thoughts are always so well organized and you use just the right amount of voice! Awesome examples of revenge, not so awesome for getting Blondie stuck in my head. I also really enjoyed how you used personal experiences to demonstrate uses of revenge, I totally get it and can relate to it! This also made me explore other thoughts about Hamlet and his decision to murder his uncle, like the drive that he has to kill him is similar to the drive you have to beat your competitors! Groovy blog, Crusty.
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ReplyDeleteI agree wholeheartedly with your example of wanting revenge in Track and Field. I am extremely competitive and I can't help but dwell on my loses. Revenge really is good or bad depending on what you plan to do for revenge. Pushing yourself to beat someone in a race helps out both you and the person you want to get revenge on. Revenge is a great motivator if channeled correctly and many great things have came out of a desire for revenge. On a side note, I hate when songs get stuck in my head and I have no way of listening to them
ReplyDeleteI have never really thought about how revenge could take place in track and field. I also run track, but I guess I never realized that it is the revenge that you want on your opponents that fuels you to do your best. Now that I think about it, most of the time revenge has been what was pushing me to make myself better and beat my enemy. I guess this shows that revenge isn't always a bad thing like everybody thinks it is.
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