Let me tell you a short story before I get into what I'm about to say.
There was once a gazelle who was just born. This gazelle was born in a time of turmoil where all the gazelles were being chased bely predators and they had to be on the move constantly. The herd of gazelles had little time to rest or feed themselves and their young. A lot of them died of hunger and starvation even before the predators like lions, cheetahs, wolves, hyenas, leopards etc could get to them. This was a very bad time to be born. But it wasn't its fault. Its mother got pregnant for it even before the troubles began.
On the day it was born, the lions attacked!! It was a new born right? It doesn't have the strength I'm its legs to make a run for its life, and its mother on the other hand couldn't carry him around as he was still too feeble. She had to do something real quick before it's too late. She had to act fast. She knew they were in trouble. She couldn't watch her baby die in cold blood. He was too innocent for this life. So she devised a plan in seconds. The rush of adrenaline even make animals do crazy stuff. I thought it was just humans. She decided to him him under a tree, where the ground had long, thick bushes around them. He was real small so, he wasn't seen, and besides, the lions were focusing on the bigger prey. He saw his family being mauled to death buy couldn't do anything. At least there was some sense of survival in him that didn't let him make any sound.
Now he was all alone in the wild. No family member to put him through his early stages of life, or no mother to feed him milk. It was a very dangerous place to be. Seeing other kinds of animals with their family made him seek refuge in the most unthoughtful place.
It seemed refuge from the owner of the tree which it was kept. A leopard!
One would think it. One would have thought it would rather go for other domestic animals like other species of antelopes or pigs or zebras. It had to be a leopard. The leopard was glad that he could get a free meal without even running for it. They bonded real good. The leopard was at every point trying to hold its urge to eat him up seeing he was still very tender to make any good meal. It even almost took the leopard as its mother. Such innocence. Little did he know of the cruelty the world he was introduced to was all about
You could feel the friendship and trust that the gazelle had for the leopard. The leopard was even in shock and was amazed at his confidence. At some point, the leopard would think, "am I a joke to him"?
There was confusion everywhere even among other animals. It was so unusual. The leopard had to see the end of this. Maybe the gazelle was up to something. He had to see what he was up to. For trying to be buddies with your killer.
Until one time, the leopard was really convinced that this gazelle really trusted her like its own parents. There was no remorse anywhere or pity. To her, he was just food like any other gazelle. He was just food who got too close to the cook. He trusted the bad guy. Confused the villain for his best friend. There was no guidance whatsoever, to take him of the wrong track he was going. At the end, he ended up being the leopard's next meal. Such a tragedy for him, and another day's meal for the leopard.
From this story, we can learn that not everyone who we claim as Friends are truly good friends. Some are just there to take from you and suck you dry. Waiting for the right time to pounce on you and snuff the life out of you or that which they want from you. Be careful you're not friends with the enemy. Be careful when you wanna choose a friend that has spots, whole you're spotless. You know you're different. Most times we tend to put our trust on the wrong person and want to keep on believing in a lie when the truth is glaring at us.
Make more friends that have same vision and mission as you. That have the same core values with you. Don't trust because you're lonely and there's no one else to lean on. You might make the wrong decisions in doing that. Watch your friends closely and protect your back, because that's the most vulnerable place when it comes to friendship.