When, after a painful conflict with two lifelong friends, you behave with patience, kindness and maturity and an entire group of old friends unanimously condemns you for childishness and cruelty —
Priceless!
On the downside, when one of these hanging jurors is suddenly diagnosed with end stage cancer, and another is battling a serious degenerative disease, and neither one will speak with you unless you confess your unforgivable, unforgiving childish rage and acknowledge the unspeakable harm you’ve done to everybody, well, there’s a price to that, for everyone involved.
I used to make these two ailing friends laugh often. We spent many a wonderful weekend with them and all I ever felt from them was love and warmth. They now need all the love and support they can get, as we all would in their situation.
Except that I am suddenly their enemy to the death because two mutual friends who can never be wrong, terrified about their humiliating imperfect/damaged/dark sides ever being revealed, struck first and struck hard. With only a few sincerely imparted poisonous lies they convinced an entire righteous group of old mutual friends that I am a destructive monster who can neither love nor forgive.
Evil, we learn, often presents itself as righteousness. The most aggressive attackers always present themselves as the most unfairly persecuted victims. Which, itself, is also:
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