Friends v Enemies

There is an old adage that says, “Keep your friends close but keep your enemies closer.” In today’s world, do you really know who your friends really are? It is becoming increasingly more difficult to discern between friend and enemy.

A person used to know, beyond doubt, who would stand up for him or her and who would stab them in the back. Today, your most trusted ally may well be the one to place the knife between your ribs. Loyalty, commitment and friendship are all on a temporary scale. To find a true friend, one that would never betray you no matter what, is hard to find. As long as a person can use you, needs what you can do for them, you are their friend. As soon as that need is gone, when they no longer can use you, they turn on you and leave you in the dark.

That woman, or man, that means so much to you, that you love more than life, has no more respect or loyalty to you than they did for the person before you. Once again, to find someone that is permanent is rare. Divorce rates skyrocket while long-term relationships plummet. Women want a baby daddy; someone that will give them an income for the long term. As soon as she gets what she wants, she is done with you and on to the next man; all the while you are paying for her lifestyle.

That boy that tells you he loves you more than life is only playing a part just to get into you. If you become pregnant, you are history and that poor baby is forgotten about by his/her sperm donor. It isn’t about love anymore. It is all about lust and numbers. The more women he can get between the sheets the better man he is.

As friends, two people can be inseparable for a time, sharing everything from dreams to fears. All it takes is one disagreement and the friendship is gone. “If I show you the darkness within me, will you still think of me the same?” Most will not. If you show your darkness, your demons, most will turn and run away. Why? They run because they don’t want to have to deal with any kind of drama or conflict. Most people today are so hedonistic that they cannot see beyond their own noses. Only their wants and needs and desires matter. If you don’t cater to them, they leave.

You can give until there is nothing left to give to some people and when it’s gone, so are they. It is your fault that they have so little. It is your responsibility to supply them with what they want. A gentle, giving heart must set limits because the takers never will. They will take until nothing remains then they will move on to someone else that can give to them. It is a never ending cycle.

When you do find that one person that will have your back, no matter what, keep hold of them. If someone is willing to be there through thick and thin, through the demons coming out, for better or worse, that person is a jewel to be held onto, cherished. If you betray that person you are doing them, and yourself, a grave injustice. How so? By betraying them you have lost a treasure most will never find and you will have maybe damaged a kind soul to where they never will trust again.

Life is hard. Life is not fair. It has become a dog eat dog world and that, my friends, is the beginning of the end. When everyone must watch their backs to keep from having a blade stuck through it, then true commitments and loyalty will never be able to exist. Only alliances founded on mutual survival will remain. “My enemy’s enemy is my friend.” Like an alliance between Russia and the United States, it becomes nothing more than enemies bound by a common goal. Once the goal is reached, or is found to be unreachable, that alliance is gone and they are still enemies.

Once a person realizes that they are nothing more than the god’s whipping boy, all hope leaves and despair is all that remains. For those that always look for the good in everyone, it will be a hard life of betrayal after betrayal. There is good in each and every person on this planet. It is whether each one wants to let that good out or keeps it buried deep inside so as not to be taken for granted. Instead of ‘do unto other as you would have done unto you,’ it has become ‘do unto other before they do unto you.’ That is why the good is buried in so many.

Greed, lust, gluttony, vanity, envy, sloth and wrath, the seven deadly sins rule this world. Hedonism is king. Chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience, kindness, and humility, the seven virtues are a thing of the past or are to be taken advantage of. The two have to coexist to keep a balance on good and evil. Today, the balance is tipped in favor of the sins whereas, in the past, the virtues were more important. What has caused this change in the balance of power?

In days gone by, religion and morality were more important than personal feelings. It was taboo to have sex before you were married and even more so to have a baby out of wedlock. Charity started at home because taking care of your own meant your survival. Respect for your elders and those in authority kept you from becoming an outcast in society. Conservatism was necessary to stay alive and prosper.

Today, it is vogue to have babies before marriage, even encouraged. Sex is encouraged at a young age as sex education and contraceptives are handed out to preteens in school. Our children are taught to think only of themselves when it comes to feelings and desires. They are also taught that to be righteous and moral they must give to those less fortunate no matter whom that may be. Liberalism is the only right way to think.

The difference between liberalism and conservatism is this: liberalism today is communism at worst and socialism at best. Why do I say that? ‘From each according to his ability to each according to his wants and needs’ is what liberalism wants. Wealth redistribution in the form of taxing the rich more and giving that money to the less fortunate, whether they work for it or not.

Conservatism today is a capitalist society. ‘You don’t work, you don’t eat.’ If you put in an honest day’s work, you get paid an honest day’s wage. You are responsible for your own actions and welfare. If you need assistance, it will be given but if you are able, but refuse, to be a productive member of society, you deserve no help.

Why did I put those two paragraphs in at this point? Because it gives the difference between how things were and how they are. When conservatism was reigning, friends were friends, loyalty and commitment meant something and morality was important. Today, liberalism reigns and people are against each other and only think of themselves.

We no longer have to struggle to actually survive. We struggle to survive our wants but not our needs. Yes, there are homeless and hungry people, even here in one of the wealthiest nations on Earth but, for the most part, people are taken care of. It’s not like we have to go out and hunt our food and make clothes out of the hides of what we kill. If we need food, there are welfare or food banks. If we need shelter there is welfare and missions. Society is called upon to supply to those in need. Our struggles are to support our wants, our greed, and our gluttony. Because we no longer have to struggle, our battles are now against each other. We take from those that are willing to give because we want what they have. We ingratiate ourselves to the kind, gentle, giving souls just to stab them in back once we are done with them.

If society continues in this fashion how long do you think that humanity will survive? Soon, very soon, we will once again become a feudal society and kill each other off as the ancient Celts, Normans, and Vikings did to those weaker than them. World population will decline to a few of the strongest. Those with money will have the protection of the castle while the weak will only have their hovels to hide in. Once the battles begin there will be no stopping them. Where will those takers and hedonists go then? Of course, to those that are kind and giving, if there are any of those left.

Hopefully, one day in the near future, conservatism, morality, loyalty and commitment will make a reappearance and become the norm replacing the hedonistic society that believes in the seven sins instead of the seven virtues. Hopefully.