College Essay # 36 - New College Of University of South Florida

36. Select any issue that is of importance to you and discuss your views. (New College of University of South Florida)

I recently discovered the picture of Libyan leader Gadaffi when he was killed. Though I knew of his death, I did not know the state in which he was killed. I hadn’t read the news, instead just heard from my fellow peers that he was killed. But when I saw the picture of Gaddafi helpless on the ground, it got me thinking. How important is revenge, and how can be discriminate revenge with justice?

Gaddafi was a man who was brutal to his whole nation. He primarily pledged by taking on the role of a leader to protect his people and to protect his country from harm. He was meant to lead his nation to flourish and bring prosperity and peace among all. Instead, he went against his vows and did the unthinkable. He started harming his nation and his own people.  People protested against him after the Middle East witnessed the rebellion in Egypt, but that didn’t stop Gaddafi, nor did it seem to scare him. He continued on his twisted way of killing his own people. He didn’t blink and eye and he didn’t care about anyone and anything but his own vision. He could easily be one of the candidates for the 21^st century Adolf Hitler. He may not win, but he definitely is part of the pageant. But then, the French and the British and the United Nations stepped in. But why, was it to do justice to those people that Gaddafi had killed or was it revenge?

I don’t think that it was exactly revenge in this case, but more doing justice, but what about the things that go on in common human lives daily? Many claim to be doing justice to someone by harming others but where do you draw the fine line between revenge and justice? Though they are different concepts as a whole, I believe that they go hand in hand. For many, getting someone back for something they did brings joy into others’ lives. That’s a twisted thought. Yes, we’re all human and I’m not saying that I haven’t tried to take revenge on anyone. That’s a different case, but what about when someone claims to be doing justice and instead has a motive only filled with the words revenge? How can we discriminate between the two? How can we tell someone who is planning to do “justice” to stop because the only thing filled in their minds is revenge? Do bad people get to be harmed? Do good people get to harm the bad? Don’t the good just stoop to their level? There are so many things that can be said and not said, but this is one thing that I feel very unclearly about. I can’t seem to draw the line … maybe it’s strange to some, but I just can’t find the difference sometimes. Can you?