Vengeance As An Operative Concept in History Has Been Obsolete Since 1945

In a discussion in the last two years with an intelligent person, the question was posed as to what would I do, or how I would feel about it, if my family were the victim of some great injustice of the wars of History from over 100-150 years ago.

My answer to that was that if it were the case, there would be nothing that I could do in the present to rectify that, and that as the hypothetical posed was an INJUSTICE, that I would attempt to make the best contribution I could as a citizen in the present and not follow the example of the attacker.

My answer was met with considerable skepticism. I followed up with this rejoinder: but don't you think that the day of vengeance as a real operative force in history is past- done and gone. With the advent of ever advancing technology and control of Military weaponry through the concentration of superpower control, (effectively on the world stage as it is presented today, there is really only Nato, Russia and China as real military powers) and the institutions of law, isn't vengeance really an obsolete concept for practical application for the average citizen?? I said, At least for me it is.

For all intents and purposes hasn't vengeance as a functional concept really been done and gone since 1945?? And with GPS and nano-tech tracking of individual retail items that has been demonstrated in Wall Street Journal articles, don't tell me that our government, and therefore NATO, hasn't had every one of those weapons tagged for quite some time now, whether they inform us about it or not.

I said that I thought this was a good thing, that there hasn't been the big nationalistic race of the nation throwing itself as a war machine into the all-or-nothing war since then, and that the world has been much safer for it, and that there has been nothing like the total destruction that occurred in Europe with WWI and WWII.

I said that I thought this was a very good thing for the common citizen, to focus on working and making a living, contributing to his or her community and the lives of his or her family and it's members. The machinery of Vengeance has been institutionalized and concentrated and is out of our hands, so it doesn't make any sense to focus on it and live that way and poison the good things that can be done with one's time. These institutions don't operate perfectly, but I told the speaker that I wouldn't live that way. Better to focus on the good that can be done with one's freedom.

The day of Vengeance as an operative concept on the big stage of history in changing those and the institutions in control of the world order is done and gone, and has been since 1945. Citizens now need only to focus on contributing on whatever level they can and on improving their daily lives. Citizens need now only to focus on the good that can be done with their freedom.