They taught me too

We learn something or the other from everyone around us. My family, my friends, my teachers, and most importantly my “enemies”. They taught me a lot too. It is rightly said that you may take the teachings coming from a friend lightly, but the things enemies teach you, are learnt forever.

Before I move on, I must clarify, enemy here means any person who I am on a less than friendly basis with, someone with whom I have some major disconnect. Some of these are proper fights, while with others it is just a disconnect which has led to unfriendly terms between us.

Today, I am here, writing about what each of these “enemies” has taught me. I have learnt major lessons of my life from these people.

1. My earliest lesson from an enemy came in the 11th standard (I have no memories of enemies before that). She taught me that I should let people make their own mistakes, instead of interfering and trying to tell them what is right.
2. My second lesson came in my first year at college, where I learnt that people’s mindset cannot be changed. Even if you don’t treat them unequally because of ‘social status’, they themselves do. And thus, they act in a lowly way themselves.
From the same person I also learnt that never give anyone in life more importance than the core group (family, true friends and (if applicable) your partner).
3. The third person who taught me in this way is someone with whom I haven’t had a fight per say, we have just drifted apart. She taught me that one should compromise only as much as one is comfortable with. Too much compromising to help others only leads to problems.
4. My latest lesson came from a person who is hell bent on being a good friend when I am no longer interested. Because of some reasons, I am unable to say no to her on her face (I tried, it led to disastrous results, so I had to withdraw my ‘NO’). I learnt from her that it is wrong to make someone dependent on you and let that person be extremely addicted to you. Also, that I am not here to become a mommy to people in this hostel. If they cannot take care of themselves, it is not my duty to take care of them.

So, a big THANK YOU to all these people, for teaching me some lessons that I might never have learnt otherwise. It is truly said that everyone comes into your life for a reason. We may not realize it during their presence and may be hurt by their actions, but it is all needed.