There is no space for Wisdom to light a path towards real justice and lasting peace. Getting even is all that counts. If we are to respond effectively to cruelty, I think we must go without anesthesia as much as we can. We need to feel our pain and grief and humiliation and our rage before taking action. As unbearable as it may seem, there is immense possibility in that precious time between the shock of injury and the reflex of retaliation.
Wisdom can come in that moment, guiding an accurate response to what really is.
Compassion may rise then too, and even a realization of communion. That moment is precious, but it is also very delicate. To even glimpse it, we cannot give in to the vengeance reflex. I believe that at the very time we feel most wounded, we are called to remain vulnerable. It is hard sometimes seemingly impossible to even consider remaining vulnerable when everything in us wants to strike out.