Don't Be A Means To An End

I was watching a reel news item on the BBC earlier today and it got me thinking. For those of you who might not have the time to watch it, let me summarise.

There were two men in the old America and by old America, I mean the America in which discrimination was a lawful thing. One of the men was what people would have called 'a real American, the other man was just a lowly French fur trapper. At the time, fur trappers were amongst those at the end of the rung/ladder. 

The American would later decide to leave his family behind and carve out a way for himself. On a fateful day, they were both in the same departmental store when a shotgun accidentally went off, wounding the fur trapper. This fellow who left home to find a name for himself, treated and saved the life of this lowly fur trapper. 

The gunshot resulted in a gaping wound in the stomach of the fur trapper, and soon enough, our American, who's a doctor realised that the wound will take a long time to heal. He made a deal with the trapper. He takes care of the trapper in every way possible and the trapper let him experiment on him for the duration of the contract. The fur trapper agreed, believing the American was just looking out for and being kind to him. By the end of the contract, the fur trapper left America. After some years, he got a letter from the American asking him to come back, begging literally, but there's never any response. 

Though treating the wounded fur trapper, he didn't keep him for kindness' sake. He simply offers the fur trapper a contract, so he can keep performing unholy experiments on him. Just like the 

Americans in the story, there are so many people in our lives that aren't our friends. They stay with us when we have something to offer. For them, we are just a means to an end. 

This kind of people use you and leech off you while making it look like they are doing you a favour. You should know to cut off these kinds of manipulative people, just like the fur trapper.

The thing that you should watch out the most for, is when they seek to return. Take the example of the trapper and the American. After so many years, the American sent a letter to the trapper to return to him. For that kind of a person, I reckon the letter would have been full of emotional pleas as well as guilt-tripping. Just like the American, when you cut off toxic and manipulative friends, never let them guilt trip you into accepting them back. This is because they will come back to you if they can't find someone else to use and they will seek to guilt trip you for cutting them off. At times like these, it's important to not succumb to such cheap tricks. The decision to cut them off is for your good. 

Conclusion

There are a lot of people out there, who only want to be your friend, cos they need you. Once that changes, you'll see them for who they are. 

Don't let them manipulate you, cos the choice to cut off such manipulative people is for your good. The important here is to learn to discern the kind of company you keep and not hesitate to cut off someone who fits the bill. 

Thanks for reading…..