I hear people say "Keep your friends close, keep your enemies
closer."
Which instantly makes me paranoid, like I hope they don't mean
I'm an enemy & they're just letting me know where I stand in some
weird way.
Then I turn introspective. I can't find personal context for
that. Because for me to accept the idea of "keep your enemies closer" I
have to understand the process of it.
So, in my mind, I'm envisioning
how a person keeps his enemies closer: you have to identify someone as
your enemy, your nemesis, a demon, as someone who is out to get you. You then
have to learn enough about them to form a relationship with them. You
have to actually follow through and form that relationship and be nice
about it so they don't mind "keeping you close". Then you have to
maintain that level of close relationship with that person who you don't
like who you think is out to get you and who you really don't
ever actually want to have in your life at all.
And let's face it: we all have
these people in our lives at one time or another; these Demons.
And then
you have to live with the lie that you are actively learning about and being nice
to someone that you potentially wish you never knew in the first place.
I don't get it. I really don't get it. I mean, I understand the process, I guess I understand the goal, but...
I think this is so difficult for me to understand because my
biggest demons are within me.
I have no choice but to keep them
even closer than friends.
And I really, really REALLY wish that weren't the case.
Besides, I can deal with people I don't want to be around. I just
walk away, or give the short answer and wait out the moments they've
crossed my path. I have a complete disregard for negativity in my life. There's really
so much of it around that I don't contend with the idea that keeping
negative forces close to me in any capacity would or could be helpful to
me in any way.
But I suppose I understand the people who do. I mean, fear makes
us do very strange things. Fear and love both, right? Do you think if
they were people, fear and love; do you think they'd be friends?
Link of the Day:
Look at it or don't, there's no need to criticize.
http://mashuavoiceforthevoiceless.blogspot.com/2012/01/10-year-old-girl-in-kenya-needs.html
They'd be both friends and enemies.
ReplyDeleteThat's the eternal duality: fear and love, negative and positive, summer and winter, life and death.
I could never understand keep your enemies closer either. Once you really got to know them, how could you consider them your enemy? Wouldn't you begin to understand their reasoning and motivations? Wouldn't that make them less of an enemy?