"It is impossible to suffer without making someone pay for it; every complaint already contains revenge"

Suffering, as Nietzsche observes, is rarely a solitary event. Pain imposes an inward fracture; it carves into our experience, but the wound does not stay hidden within, it inexorably seeks expression outwards. To suffer is, almost unavoidably, to involve others, to draw them into the orbit of our misfortune. Every human complaint, whether voiced gently or erupting as bitter reproach, carries within it a shadowy hint of vengeance. This connection between pain and retribution is subtle, often unconscious. The aggrieved person, by articulating distress, cannot help but direct some consequence toward their surroundings.

Complaints do much more than seek empathy or correction. Even at their most innocent, they confront others with discomfort, guilt, or a demand for attention. The mere act of sharing suffering imposes a moral burden, obliging listeners to respond, to justify, to share the weight. Envy, bitterness, or longing may lurk behind grievances, silently implicating others, those who seem happier or more fortunate, those who bear responsibility for our state, or even those simply willing to listen. The transaction is seldom neutral; relief for the sufferer often arrives at a cost extracted from others, disturbing their peace, evoking sympathy, or sparking obligation.

Nietzsche’s observation delves into the psychology of human relations. The drive to communicate suffering is not merely a bid for consolation; it is also an unconscious attempt to restore balance by shifting a portion of our pain to another. Every complaint, then, is tinged with a desire for recompense, a ‘revenge’ as primitive as it is subtle. The one who hears the complaint becomes a participant in the drama, entwined with the aggrieved in a web of mutual affect. Thus, through the social fabric, individual suffering seldom remains contained; it is inevitably transformed, redistributed, and made collective, even as we protest our innocence in the aftermath.