Vengeance pushes a man to great extremes, a conviction to which they dedicate his entire life. An eye for an eye, tit for tat – these thoughts become your master, and you, their slave. The next thing you know, you’re gearing up for war.
But what’s so hypnotic about vengeance is that it stems from the most broken places, not anger, but despair, helplessness, and yearning.
More often than not, vengeance stems from injustice.
From the cries of battle, a small squadron of Afghani soldiers are in pursuit of defending their country against a Soviet attack, however, their endeavors are brought to a halt when a rogue military aircraft makes a sudden attack. The aftermath? Carnage.
And among the pile of bodies, among the brothers and sons, was a father who had left his son alone. The father of Bashar Alin Farouk.
From that moment on began Bashar’s thirst for vengeance. But is spilling blood in the name of blood true revenge?
An Eye For An Eye
To decide whether Bashar’s quest for vengeance is justified, let us examine his motives. In his mind, the future has been set in stone; the absolute destruction of American forces. Bashar blames the land of the free for his father’s death and dedicates his entire life to becoming who we now know as one of the most relatable antagonists in fiction today. His father, with whom he rode horses and learned everything about being a man, was taken from him. He grew up into the man his father wanted, only to find him, Lieutenant Colonel Asrani Alin Farouk, lifeless on the ground – dead.
The bond between a father and a son is very special. It is an unbreakable connection; no matter how tough the love may be, the warmth you feel from being under your father’s wing is indescribable. And just like that, Bashar’s comfort was taken away. He had to find his own way and create his own brand of justice. That is the duplicity of war; someone’s justice is an injustice to another.
War – A Double-Edged Sword
Humans are programmed to survive. But does this make vengeance black and white? Why should Bashar be judge, jury, and executioner? It is perplexing, to say the least. No matter how many tall buildings we erect or how advanced we make our technology, our primal instincts make us no different than animals.
Humans are animals; some fight over territory, some over food, and some over past grudges. In the heat of our battles, we refuse to accept the consequences of our actions, turning a blind eye to collateral damage.
Bashar looks to spend the remainder of his life avenging his father’s death, at the expense of thousands of other innocent Americans, maybe another little Bashar who will be crying over his father’s corpse. Will it bring Bashar peace? War is a double-edged sword; the cycle of hate, misery, and pain will continue.
That is one of the many concepts explored in the book, A Taste of Bitter Justice.
Where will Bashar’s conviction lead him? Was the US involved in his father’s death? Whose will justice be to taste – a revenge-driven Bashar or the most powerful government on the planet?
Find out by picking up Kenneth Louis Lancisi’s A Taste of Bitter Justice now!
Read more: A History Of Bitter Justice: A Retrospective On The American-Afghan Conflict
