“So it’s her that gets under your skin, not the boyfriend, not the name.”
“He’s just… another thin-skinned narcissist who may grow to learn wrong from right, but I really don’t want to see her like that… her cheerfulness and deteriorating family situation allows them both to get away with manipulative games. I see it with the postman and the landlady too, whispering lies in her ear, badmouthing her son and anyone he feels like to all and sundry. Even if it doesn’t really achieve anything, he enjoys the snidery for its own sake. It’s not nice to see someone get twisted like that, either by tragedy or influence. We all lose when that happens.”
“You know, every week in the news there’s stories of kids running off to join IS so they can martyr themeselves in the name of genocide. Friends and family tell us how lovely they are, yet these sweet l’il innocents still make a conscious decision to go kill, rape, torture and maim, taking pleasure from pain. And if they can figure out a way to justify their behaviour, like religion, or love, or grief, whammo, they’ve hit the mother lode.”
“People get easily led, manipulated. They enjoy the attention, and don’t see they’re the ones really being exploited. Some call it love.”
Scot shook his head. “Everyone has a choice. No matter the poison dripped into the most pliable ear, each of us still decides right or wrong. That’s what makes us who we are, forms the echo chamber around us. Call it karma, and karma is just revenge without the satisfaction. A thief’s home has too many locks to ever be comfy. If people really do spend their days lying, cheating, stealing and bullying, then guess what? Their world is filled with lying, cheating, stealing and bullying. Who wants to live in that world, really?”
Jack shook his head. “No-one does, but these people… were still meant to be friends… once.” He sighed. “I know my own innate ability to alienate. Even my mouth has a mouth of it’s own.”
“Well, maybe you just went too far when you chipped at their block and got your just desserts. Or you spent so long playing the drunk fool you can’t complain when you get treated like one. No matter. All ways still lead to the crossroads of deciding to stay in that world or not. You may lose a drunking hole, but these places reflect the character that runs it. If its their place now, their world, remember bullies, like liars, don’t stop when they can get away with it. You just provide them with an easy scapegoat by staying, someone they can assault to cheer themselves up, slice his face open and share the pics on social media with their darling buds.”
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