Christians: the Bible says love your enemies, do good to them that hate and despitefully use you. It also says to be a salt of the Earth. Common sense dictates that we are to avoid negative people, not just turn the other cheek and do their bidding. What's your take?
You have two paths, choices in life! Your choice, your out come! Be prepared to be unhappy, and all that comes with it, if you make bad choices! Try and stay on the good path, at least you will have a clear head and mind! Be responsible, don't be cruel...look after each other!
The dark side of compassion is that you love yourself more than you know your enemy is worth, which means leaving them dry so they can hopefully learn from that. Lot of hurt, not nice, but it's kill or be killed. Get's a little subtler along the way, truth beyond logic. How do you feel, and how do you balance that?
Turning the other cheek might be good in some contexts and not so good in others. On the level of personal relations, it might be better sometimes to simply let an insult or upset go rather then getting into anger and probably prolonging a bad situation because of that. Sometimes a relatively small thing can get blown up out of all proportion and lead to a long cycle of tit for tat type reactions, even vendettas, and usually, it's a futile and pointless thing. Forgiveness is usually better than vengeance. In terms of things like international relations though, I don't think it can work. We can't turn the other cheek to Islamic terrorists for instance.
"love your enemies, do good to them that hate and despitefully use you" As with most things in the Bible this is subject to interpretation. I would say, in relation to this quote, that it is telling us to understand that, or those, with whom we are in disagreement. We don't have to agree with them, but it is wise to understand where or what their understanding of the issue is. The good we can do is to not necessarily to condemn them for their view. On the other hand we need not condone what they do. We only need to understand their motives. In this way we can moderate our response to their actions or attitudes. Do they truly wish to harm us without justification? Then it may be proper to respond in like manner. Is there a nation that truly wishes to practice genocide? They need to be dealt with in an extreme manner to mitigate any damage they may purposely cause. Are they acting out of a misunderstanding, self preservation, panic, or some similar such thing? Then we must take into consideration that they may not be not acting out of a desire to inflict harm just for harm's sake. We may find that we should turn the other cheek..or we find it's dangerous to do so, understanding motives is the key. We may find negative people who find themselves in that position due to things beyond their control...or we may find those who purposely encourage negativity fore their own selfish needs. Discernment is important.
From my understanding of that message is to not say or do anything spiteful to people, regardless of what they say or do to you. For example, if someone calls you a bitch you will feel like it's your duty, your right to call them a bitch back. You will feel justified to say or do something hurtful to those who have wronged you. That's the devil speaking in your ear. Ignore him. Forgive those that have wronged you. Cast hate and those other negative thoughts, feelings from your wellbeing. Move on. Walk away. Smile at your enemies. Not to be confused with, "killing them with kindness". You smile at your enemies because you want your love to spread onto them. Pure love, with no hidden motive. I think the message is more about not being a slave to your enemies, whether you're doing their bidding, as you say. Or your doing what I stated above. Also, the Bible has always been dramatic with their wording. In saying that, "enemies" can be anyone that you have a troublesome relationship with. I used to practice Christianity, so... that's the best I can do for an interpretation.
