Mean and Nasty

Then there are the Lady Macbeths of the world, the Iagos, the slippery slimy back-stabbing ones who want to undo you. Often they are beautiful to the eye, rich in charisma, personal power. They will stop at nothing to assassinate your character, drag you down, and they delight in seeing you broken and wounded. Theirs is the fear so dangerous it blossoms sometimes into violence. They do not welcome or love the stranger and choose the fist over the open hand, the slammed door over dialogue. The more open, forgiving, and generous you are the greater their desire to do you harm, to stick the dagger in the rib when no one is watching. Watch for them. Know that theirs is not the only way, and that the price you pay for living under the spell of needing to be "safe" at the cost of hurting others is a hard heart, the invention of an enemy, a vision of "us" and "them," and a dark detour from your given path.