How to Teach Your Enemy a Lesson

You can use kindness or a cold shoulder to teach your enemy a lesson.

Almost everyone encounters an enemy at some point in his or her life. Your insecurities and a passionate desire to achieve your goal can lay the groundwork for a foe to appear. Rivalries can make for indelible learning experiences and ultimately prove positive. However, sometimes your adversary doesn't understand that enough is enough. When a conflict grows excessive or unreasonable, it may be time to teach your villain what's what. Methods of doing so can be polite or prickly.

Instructions

1. Kill her with kindness. Shower her with examples of your decency and respect for her assets as an enemy. Don't be afraid to flash an occasional smile, or even offer her a gift. If she is truly your enemy, she will recognize her evildoing; your overt benevolence will wrong-foot her, perhaps even hasten feelings of guilt and contrition.

2. Give him a dose of his own medicine. Return your foe's poor behavioral choices back to him. If he wrote a nasty letter about you publicly, pen a note of even more maliciousness, and distribute it more widely. An experience of the effects of his own awful conduct might be the trick to preventing him from treating others in the same hostile way.

3. Turn the other cheek. This tactic was originally conceived by Jesus Christ and delivered in his Sermon on the Mount. It also describes a fundamental component of Martin Luther King Jr.'s preference of nonviolent protest. Choosing to accept your enemy's evil ways without looking for vengeance can show a fortitude of character that others will appreciate. You might be commended for your decision to rise above your adversary's malevolence. Ultimately, public opinion may favor you and frown upon your opponent, making you the victor in the end.

4. Lend a cold shoulder. The idea of a cold shoulder hearkens back to early 18th century England, describing when unwanted visitors were made aware of their status with "cold shoulder of mutton" as their dinner meal. Completely ignore her. Deem her a persona non grata and pay her no mind. Stick with your decision and do not soften should she decide to make nice or apologize. Your choice to ban her from your world could quicken her recognition that she did you wrong.

5. Outdo him. Determine to beat him at his own game. If he is very adept at manipulating others, use evidence of his evil habits to turn his friends and acquaintances against him. Say he earned a higher score than you on a recent exam, and made sure you knew it. Rally your ambition and prepare for the next test with twice the amount of effort; enlist your teacher and a tutor to assist your aim. When your achieve a higher grade than him, announce it to the world. Hopefully he'll recognize your prowess and submit to your supremacy.

References

• Dictionary.com: "kill with kindness" definition
• GoEnglish.com: "A Taste Of Your Own Medicine"
• The Phrase Finder: "Cold Shoulder" Meaning and Origin
• Life Optimizer: How to Study Better, by Amber Hansley