Tragedy

 ^{https://pixabay.com/photos/danube-jew-shoe-world-war-river-4537589/} Sometimes the best people around us bring out the worst in us. And the worst people, on the other hand, bring out the best in us. The kindest people end up only getting the pain. And the meanest people manage, almost magically, to bring us joy. The genuine ones get our silence, and sometimes even our indifference, and the fake ones get our attention. The most loyal end up with only our doubts. The disloyal have, almost consistently, our trust and our certainties. Those who remain by our side, even in the worst of times, only get the response of our frustrations. And those who do not stay and do not remain get our patience and benevolence. We offer our apologies to strangers, and our harshest words to those who are closest and dearest to us. We hide our tenderness from those who are safe, and give our smiles and sympathy to those who have hurt us... This is the real tragedy of human behavior. We misplace our best energies. But why is this so? Do we have a constant need to seek more acceptance from those we don't yet “know” or who don't like us? Why are we ashamed to tell a friend that we like them? And likewise, when something is bothering us, are we able to say so? Why don't we share more good things with those who love us and are close to us? Our tendency is to share with those we trust, but we end up sharing fears, apprehensions, and sometimes even somewhat dark thoughts that have nothing to do with our experience with that person. We talk about news that shocked us, but we rarely compliment them on how they look today. In the little time we share with our friends or family, how much of that time are we really in contact with them? And of that time, how much is spent not arguing or not constantly contradicting each other? We make the people who love us most into someone who, because they love us, we think should be our mirror image, should think the same way we do, or should always accept us no matter what. We are only careful with our words with those who don't know us. With those who are close to us, we sometimes even use completely inappropriate language.  ^{Free image from [Pixabay.com](https://pixabay.com/)}