to stab or not to stab..

i’ve always wondered about the quote, “a true friend stabs you in the front”.. there has to be a lot said for the audacity of such a person to execute such a heinous act.. to violate a person’s trust so completely and to inflict such base injury is utterly evil.. this is all metaphorical, not actual; simply a figure of speech.. but, then comes the flip side.. the all-too-common back-stabbing..

i didn’t realize that the being stabbed in the back is actually a ‘legend’.. stemming from, of all places, the political arena of Germany (post World War I and pre World War II).. it all had to do with, to summarize the ‘stab-in-the-back legend’, it is a reference to a popular social theory in which the general German public failed to take part in aiding their country in the war effort and it was said that such unpatriotic acts were the intentional sabotaging of national pride by particular social groups, deemed as traitors who were working in cahoots with foreign interests and against the war efforts, of which was ultimately blamed for Germany’s defeat.. okay, enough of the boring lesson in history, time to get down to the gist of my babbling for the evening..

have you ever felt like you’ve stabbed in the back..? I’m sure most can say yes, since i have yet to meet anyone who hasn’t.. well, at least, not yet.. it can be a blatant act or one so graciously accomplished you still have a tough time reconciling it actually happened.. the blatant acts are, by no means, worse than the unobtrusive.. either one leaves you feeling duped and hoodwinked..

the subtlety of the offender’s outright malice is so well disguised you are left feeling like you were the offender rather than the offended, like you are the one who needs to apologize.. have you ever had that happen..? truthfully..? but, after realizing you actually felt the need or the overwhelming desire to ask for forgiveness, you see the well-concealed smugness on the offender’s face and you are left with no leg to stand on.. you’ve given up the one card you had only to be trumped, quite gracefully I might add, by said offender..

now, i am sure you are all wondering where this is going.. patience, my apprentice, patience.. okay, this tangent stems from a conversation i had with a friend of mine today.. the principal offender of today’s conversation was one of a person who self-importance has since left many people drained of all energy and most of the life sucked right out of them.. this person was, at one point, someone most thought they could trust.. a person whom most thought was looking out for their best interest..

well, to define trust for the sake of this argument.. it is for the most part a generous act.. it’s opening yourself to another person while assuming that person would not use the newly presented information to bury you.. to further define or clarify this particular argument, this is purely on a professional level, defining trust on a personal level takes on a whole new allusion of which i am not sure i would have the time left in my life to delve into..

to put all of this into a nice, neat nutshell simply for time and space.. how does one take on a person who is supposed to be the proverbial ‘captain of the ship’, when, in all sense of reality, is in fact one of the rats on a sinking ship..? how do you take on someone who has the power to give the “emperor’s thumbs up/thumbs down”, the decisive moment when you are tossed to the lions or you’re allowed to live and fight another day..? how do you take on someone who puts a spin on all your conversations, questions your knowledge and experience and all the while, stabbing you in the back with a smile on their face, charming you into believing you deserve such treatment..?

being stabbed in the back, or the front for the sake of the stabbing argument, is an act which should be ranked amongst society's most heinous of crimes.. although not physically harmed with gaping, bloody wounds or missing, dangling body parts, you are nonetheless wounded in a way by this person's violation of your simple act of kindness and trust.. c'mon, that has to count for something, right..? the person should be held accountable for simply watching out for their own ass and not that of their 'shipmates'.. they're the captain of the ship after all.. when all is said and done, this person doesn't go down with their ship, they are the rat that floats on one of the barrels from the cargo hold, to watch the ship's masts disappear beneath the stormy waves on its way to a watery grave..