A few months ago, our group encountered someone we thought could help get the Bando system some publicity. The reality of the situation was quite far from that.
We had a woman who worked at a radio station offer to bring us on to chat with us over a seminar that we're putting together. Free publicity? Hell yeah. Helping victims of abuse? Even better. But this issue hit a little too close to home with our new "friend" at the radio show, and we found out quickly she was still violently bitter towards the man who had abused her. And this venom was now coming about to attempt to infect anything around her.
In our final meeting with this woman, I let the other two do the talking, and I sat and paid attention. I watched her body language, listened to the inflections and intonation of her voice, picked apart the words she used, and when I did speak, I made sure that I didn't let her run me over. Her intent the entire time was to control not only the situation, but our instructor so that she could essentially control us. We all picked up on it, but I got to the point that I was going to snap, and stood up from the table and left, then kept an eye out for my Brothers as they went to leave.
Sometimes it's difficult to recognize evil. Sometimes, they aren't as transparent as this woman. Sometimes, you encounter someone that is so well-versed at manipulating people, they may not ever even realize that they're doing it. So which is more dangerous?
A man who consciously manipulates people for a specific goal?
Or a man who manipulates everyone around him and has no clue he's doing it?
I'm not going to debate which is worse, it's just a thought to chew on. I am saying that when you recognize someone is manipulating you, it boils down to one thing: Control. All I can say is take back your power and stop letting them control you. Realization is the first step, strength is the next.
No comments:
Post a Comment