Thrown to the Wolves

So, I’m going to tell you a tale. It’s not a story of abuse, but it is heartbreaking all the same.

There are few things in this world that can influence an individual. There’s the media and the arts. There’s nature. But there are few things that are as influential as pack mentality. This is a tale that touches on the highlights and pitfalls of the aforementioned mentality.

There was a happy little girl. While she didn’t live the ideal life, she tried to do the best with what she had. She tried her hardest to rail against her social shortcomings that made her uncomfortable in social situations.

She did this for years.

She had many victories and many defeats, but she would not let that get her down.

She gained friends and she lost them. It seemed to be the way of her world. That there wasn’t much that you can depend on in life besides yourself.

And then she grew up. She became an adult.

The world of adult friendships seemed scarier and rewarding. After all, there is no bad without good and vice versa. A fact that she was keenly aware of.

So, she tried to make and maintain adult friendships… Which is no small task, as most of you know.

Than you start socializing with a larger circle of friends. It’s both scary and daunting. You never know how well you will be received.

So, she tried her hardest to be received well. She was nice at best and civil at worst.

And she thought she was doing well. She had people that she clicked more with than others, but it seemed to be as harmonious as one could get.

Than she made a mistake. It was nothing life-threatening. It wasn’t the end of the world.

But for everyone else in the circle it was.

Evisceration would be a nice way to put what happened. They tried to tear her apart with lies and unkind names. They spread rumours that bordered on libel.

She couldn’t put up with the degree of personal abuse that she was taking. While she had an idea of how these people worked, she couldn’t have imagined that it was really that bad.

So, what do you do when you’re stuck in a toxic circle? You have two choices: leave or let it consume you.

She left. She knew that she was better than they were saying. They took advantage of her good nature. She let it happen. She learned her lesson and moved on, stronger in the knowledge of what it’s like to have a pack try and consume you.

Is there a moral to this story?

No, not really.

It’s just a tale of a girl who was thrown to the wolves for something so menial and her decision to leave instead of allowing them to continue to consume her.