I hate situations where people are trying to make me feel good and get something from me at the same time. There are many words to capture the act; brown nosing, buttering someone up, and sucking up quickly come to mind. Even when I do not discover that it has happened until after the fact, I am still sick. Discovering this about someone builds a higher wall between us, and will eventually ensure that I do everything in my power to be anywhere but with them.
The underlying problem is twofold. First, we do not like being “used” for another's advantage. Second, the act in itself presumes that one is not “smart” enough to see what is really happening. I have yet to find anyone who likes or looks for the experienced of having another treat them as if they are dumb.
The line of using people can begin to blur. Excuses often begin with the words “I am only doing what is best for them, even if they do not realize it at the time”. They continue with “I really needed ________” (you can fill in the blank). Another one comes along the lines, “I did not realize what I was doing”. The excuses continue into and through the night.
Can anyone be trusted?
Politicians stretch the truth again and then yet again. Often, it goes so far that one finds it hard to recognize what is fact versus fiction. “Sales” and “advertising” are professions we frequently associate with being a professional liar. Then, lest we forget or ignore, there are the preachers and evangelists of any religion. Fear, intimidation, and manipulation are common labels. If we judge by means and motives, the pool becomes very muddy. Thieves, Mafia, religious ambassadors, and people that survive by taking from the lives of others all mix equally.
The God I have experienced says something different. “Don't figure ways of taking advantage of your neighbor when he's sitting there trusting and unsuspecting.” (Proverbs 3.29)
God is trust, love, and consistency; anything else is a want-to-be counterfeit.
