Ever man has their own way of interpreting the meaning of ‘Success’ . To a cobbler down the street it might be making a few extra pennies, to the business man in Beverly Hills it might be winning an expensive painting in the auction. It depends on what ones goals are and how far he wants himself to go. If he reaches his goals he claims himself to be successful. But this success opens doors for the evil eyes of the people around him. The jealous ones who cannot bear to have the other party succeeding.
It was pointed out by Christian Nestell Bovee that:
“False friends are like our shadow, keeping close to us while we walk in the sunshine, but leaving us the instant we cross into the shade”.
Proceed with Caution:
When a man takes a step forward towards his goal, the people around him start twitching at the same time. Then a point arrives where the man gets a hold of power and authority. Seeing his fame burns them. So they decide to get closer to him in order to crawl to the top without him knowing and dethroning him. The fake smiles they make and the utterly disturbing giggles, prove the fact that they are trying too hard to get his attention.
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They pretend that they respect him and that they have been friends all along, while in reality they never did lend him a helping hand.
It was once advised that:
“Everybody is not your friend. Just because they hang around you and laugh with you does not mean they are there for you. Just because they say that they got your back, does not mean they would not stab you in it. People pretend well. Jealousy sometimes does not live far. So know your circle. At the end of the day, real situations expose fake people, so pay attention”.
Looking for Their Own Advantage:
People are known to be cunning creatures. They look for their own advantage, it doesn’t matter to them who they are stepping on to get to the top. They just want to be the ones at the top. They would never let anyone even dare to surpass them. They become blind by their ideals and thus one they see one person climbing to the top, they grab them hoping that the closer they get to the person the more the opportunities to reach to the top arrive. These people are not true and good friends. They just want friends with benefits. Rather, they may even be considered as vampires, sucking all the success of the other party and leaving them to rot while they themselves become satisfied.
According to Paulo Coelho:
“Our true friends are those who are with us when good things happen. They cheer us on and are pleased by our triumphs. False friends only appear at difficult times, with their sad, supporting faces, when, in fact, our suffering is serving to console them for their miserable lives”.
Conclusion:
In the end, one should be careful about the party they chose to tag along with. The people that support them before they were successful were the only true and honest friends they could ever have. The ones that come after he starts succeeding are just wolf in sheep’s clothing. It would be foolish to trust them so easily. Every one of them has some sort of ulterior motive that they want to achieve.
“False friends, when they stop talking to you, they start talking about you”.
But it still does not mean that the person stop being successful altogether. Rather he should stand taller and stronger and being careful not to fall for the traps set by their so called ‘Frie-enimes’ . They should not fall into the deception of this party for they would never wish for the well-being of this party, rather they just wait in anticipation to see the person fall. Fools learn from experience, the wise learn from history. One should not play the part of the fool.
Robert Burton portrays it as:
“False friendship, like the ivy, decays and ruins the wall it embraces; but true friendship gives new life and animation to the object it supports”.
