Discovering Guile in People - by TPO

Discovering Guile in People

====== ### ======

By TPO

In the normal course of our daily lives, it is very natural and even sound to expect the good and the unselfish in people, especially those with whom we have a considerable degree of contact. We take for granted that we will find forthrightness and honesty because these character traits need to be there for smooth, viable human relationships. Thus, it is rather a shocking revelation when guile and untruthfullness surface and manifest themselves unexpectedly. Such discovery can only be described as a lightening bolt of betrayal.

The best way to understand what guile  means may be by asking what it is not.

What does ‘no guile’ mean?

       In wikianswers.com, the answer is given thus: 

To be without guile is to be free of deceit, cunning, hypocrisy, and dishonesty in thought or action. To beguile is to deceive or lead astray, as Lucifer beguiled Eve in the Garden of Eden. A person without guile is a person of innocence, honest intent, and pure motives, whose life reflects the simple practice of conforming his daily actions to principles of integrity.

To further understand ‘guile’, imagine the following scenario if you please ....

     At work, you are suddenly required to answer for an event (an incident) that happened four or five years ago. You know and you are assured by your manager(s) that there was never any issue of negligence or incompetence on your part in the way you handled the matter at the time. Now, however, a new angle of controversy with legal implications has sprouted regarding that same incident. Interestingly, it appears that it is everybody’s contention that this may be a  lost cause, a fiasco. Still, an imposition is made on you to give a legal deposition regarding your part in the matter. You cooperate and undergo this ordeal all the while feeling resentful that you have essentially been thrown under the bus by your manager. This sentiment was especially reinforced by the lack of preparatory support to you from the callously indifferent bosses. Thankfully, the ordeal is now over for you, and you want to close the book on it and purge everything from your memory.

     
     A few weeks later, one of those same self-serving bosses calls you on the phone to ask you about how it all went for you ... because it now appears it is his turn to make a deposition. It should be noted that he is one of those hands-off types who basically knows little or nothing about the detail intricacies of the work you do. It seems his modus operandi has now caught up with him and put him in an untenable situation. So, now he needs your help. You are initially sympathetic to his plight and are not averse to help out.  But then, not too far into your conversation with him, you discover that he has, all along, been getting all types of informational support and backup from several corners. It then dawns on you that he is not really tapping you for assistance in the matter. He has not been truthful and forthcoming in his reasons for talking to you ... and he, no doubt, did not mean to disclose that he had gotten more support than you. So, his guile causes you to suspect that maybe his motive is to try and remove any focus on himself by surreptitiously fishing for scapegoats. You already know, from past experience, that this person has never had your best interest at heart. You know that he is a self-serving type. But still, the discovery of guile in his character at this point is totally unexpected.

     You immediately terminate your conversation with the manager by telling him that you really do not have anything more to add to his knowledge, and that you do not wish to further rehash your recent unpleasant experience. The manager is now obviously upset with you because he slams the phone on your ear without even a cursory thanks for your time or effort.

So now what? Who is the littler person in this episode? But even more crucial, what is the life lesson here? Truly, it cannot be anything but this: Momentous revelations and/or awakenings can and do occur at the most unexpected times in our lives.

We should always have an ear to the ground and be alert especially to betrayals and deceit. After all, it is a jungle out there!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~