People who adjust their words to fit every situation lack true personality. Those who swap day for night for their own convenience cannot be expected to stand for fairness. If someone twists their words to serve their own interests, trusting them is futile. Those who break promises and harmonize with every tune stay far from the truth. When a person’s words don’t align with their inner beliefs, they can sink lower than water flowing downhill. Observing certain people’s actions and hearing their words make one wonder—how do they embrace such hypocrisy, and where does it come from? Managing people or handling situations is undoubtedly a skill, but taking contradictory stances and constantly shifting loyalties is an art mastered only by a select few among the so-called “superior” beings.
Words alone may not soften rice, but they do soften people! If only a laboratory experiment could prove how easily people melt under false promises! But who holds more responsibility—the one giving fake assurances or the one believing them without question? Relationships, families, and societies are often swept away in the flood of empty promises. If we start counting how many of those promises are ever fulfilled, disappointment is inevitable. People lie, plot, and deceive so frequently that even the devil pauses to wonder—who is the real devil here, me or them? With every shattered expectation, sorrow grows, and faith in people diminishes.
Where do most of life’s sorrows come from? How much harm can a stranger really cause? The deepest wounds come from the ones we trust the most—our own people. The ones we believed in the most inflicted the worst pain. Their words did not match their intentions, and their eyes spoke a different language than their lips. Greed was lurking somewhere beneath their actions. While they sought personal peace, they felt no duty to bring peace to others. They simply pursued their own path, ensuring their own happiness, whispering sweet temptations to achieve their goals. They never stopped to consider that their companion might also have desires and choices. Friendships, too, have been exploited for personal gain.
How many times can you trust someone who repeatedly dishonours that trust? How much can you rely on those who seek help when in trouble but vanish when their needs are met? Life teaches us many lessons—some through observation, others through painful experiences. We must endure a parade of colorful deceptions. In most cases, we are forced to accept them in silence. Even when we know a person won’t keep their word, we often smile and express gratitude. It takes a moment to recognize a good person, but identifying the frauds can take a lifetime—yet even then, the heart remains vulnerable. Those who say one thing and do another wear masks so thick that their true faces rarely emerge.
Life is a sum of joys and sorrows. To keep my peace, I must sometimes sacrifice, and at other times, I must stand firm. If someone tries to take advantage of me, I must learn to step aside gracefully; otherwise, life’s battle will become unbearably harsh. In the struggles of life, no one values the defeated. So, never give up, my friend. Accept people only after testing their trustworthiness. It’s better to have a few good people in your life than to be surrounded by many deceitful ones. And if we want good people around us, we must first strive to be good ourselves. A pure container preserves the quality of oil or water, but it’s not always just about the container—sometimes, we need to check the purity of the oil itself.
