In Parshas Vayeishev, the Torah describes the conflict between Yosef and his ten older brothers. Yaakov sent Yosef to Shechem where his older brothers were pasturing the sheep. He wanted Yosef to inquire after his brothers' welfare. When Yosef arrived, his brothers were not pleased to see him. They decided that he wasn't really interested in their welfare. His brothers felt that he was coming to find ways to make them look bad in their father's eyes. Then, either their father would curse them or Hashem Himself would punish them because of their sin. Then only Yosef would be there to inherit Yaakov's blessings. The brothers believed that they were in danger. They also knew that one is permitted to kill somebody that's going to kill you. The brothers felt OK acting against him in order to save their lives. The brothers decided that they were going to kill their brother. The Torah tells us that the brothers changed the plans twice. Reuven said to the other brothers, "Let's not take a life. Instead of killing him, let's throw him into a pit." They all agreed to the plan and threw him inot the pit. Once Yosef was in the put, Yehuda asked, "What is the profit of killing our brother?" The Seforno explains the question as, "What will we accomplish if we will also suffer grief over his death?" After Yehuda's plea, the brothers lifted him out of the pit and sold him as a slave. How did Reuven's remark change his brothers' minds? It was obvious that Yosef would die if they killed him, but what new information did Yehuda give them? One must first understand the benefits of revenge.  The brothers realized that these benefits would not apply in the case of Yosef. The first benefit of revenge is satisfaction. This would not be present since they would mourn Yosef's death because after all, he was their brother. And the second benefit of revenge - that the death of an enemy would serve as a deterrent toward other enemies, would only work if people would know about it. However, in the case of Yosef, if he were to die in the pit, no one would know about it -therefore the second expected benefit would also not be realized. We learn an important lesson about making and revising decisions from Reuven's and Yehuda's statements. People have a hard time changing their decisions once they're made; so we must make them carefully in the first place. We also learn from Reuven and Yehuda the power of decision. When we realize that a friend is making a wrong decision, we should first get his attention and comment. Doing so may help him reconsider. We might say, "Hey, you're hurting someone," or ask, "What will you gain from this?"