Human Nature
Manipulation.
I am kind of fudging on this one. But I needed something for the Nature Category anyway.
Now, I don't manipulate. Never did.
Wellll, yes I have, I suppose. And, yes I do, kinda.
But I'm not a manipulator!
Then again, I suppose, if I manipulate at all, then I'm a manipulator. But just a little bit of one, I want you to understand.
Isn't it something how hard it is for us mortals to admit any flaw? Then, maybe it isn't for you. But it is for me.
What brought this topic about is a man I know. Now this man is a big man, a very big man by any standard. And in his own eyes as well as in everyone else's, he is very manly as well.
However he nor they recognize the tiny person residing in that big, brawny body. Nor did I, until recently.
"Ok, then," he said, as he walked off in a huff. "I want nothing more to do with you!"
And I suppose he meant it, because he doesn't even bother to greet me any more.
"If you don't do what I want you to, I'm going to be mad at you!"
Where have we heard these words? If you have a long enough memory, you probably recall them from kindergarten. And, it usually worked. Who wants someone to be mad at them, especially when they're a little kid. And especially if the threat comes from either a friend, or a bully.
What is even stranger than this, is that most of us heard these same words, phrased a little differently, from our teachers, and our parents.
Now, I don't manipulate. Not like that.
A person has to be in a position of power to use such a manipulation as that. I don't have any such power.
So I use(ed) the manipulation of the powerless to try and get what I want(ed). You notice that I said tried? It rarely worked, because even the ploy of the powerless requires that the manipulator have some power with the manipulated.
No, my manipulation, as I recall (I keep referring to the past tense because it has been quite a while since I have been in a position of need or influence, not because I believe I have outgrown it) was more whiny. It went something like, "If you don't, I'll feel real bad, and then yoou'll be sorry."
Did you laugh at that flimsy attempt? So, usually, did the person I tried to get my way with. That tactic might work if used by a child or a woman of dainty proportions, but from a man?
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Tumbleweed
Tumbleweed
