“I hate two faced people. It’s so hard to decide which face to slap first.” – Anonymous

Everyone has encountered double faced people in their lives. These people tend to be very deceptive. No one knows the actual motive behind this quality of theirs. Most generally stay inactive. But once you do something better than them something they cannot do, and your name and fame begins to fly thick and fast, they become active with the intention to ruin your image. You may tend to avoid them, yet they cannot live without you. One of the probable reasons that can be cited for this illness of theirs is jealousy. They envy you. They know they cannot equal you. So, they try to bring you back to their level of nothingness.

Here is a brief classification of double faced people you may have met or may meet in future. Read and relate:

1. The “friend”

The “friend” stays with you as a friend of yours. You tell him/her your secrets because you trust him/her. Without your knowledge, he chucks out all the secrets from you. He has other friend circles where he sits for gossips. And when the gossips begin, all your secrets rush out of his mouth. He is liked by those “other friends” for this quality of his. He may also leak out secrets of other people to you. And the irony is, you may never realise what kind of a friend he is.

2. The “colleague”

The “colleague” is very formal with you. He greets you with a fake smile with occasional “Good mornings” and “Good evenings” etc. He tries to make you believe that he is a good acquaintance. But he is one of those who talk behind your back. He has that professional jealousy with you. It’s nothing personal. All he wants is the position, name, fame and status you hold in your professional world.

3. The “friend-turned-enemy”

The “friend-turned-enemy” hates you for many reasons, probably known only to him. He hates you like anything. May be that seems to be the best possible revenge for breaking your friendship with him. All he tries to do is to stain your name and image wherever possible. He has the added advantage of knowing many things about you. You can never befriend him again, for he is always against you (with a grudge). When you see him, he acts as if he has not noticed you, or as if he has sorted out everything and has accepted the fact (with ease) that you both can no longer be friends and he can do nothing about it; he has moved on deciding not to harm you in any way. But you never know the level of grudge and hatred he has for you. He may be a major threat to you. He is the deadliest of all the double faced people you have met. How you face tackle him, it is up to you.

But no matter what kind of people you encounter, keep your calm and be yourself. People will eventually realise and recognize who you are and respect you for what you are. And finally, remember this by Winston Churchill “You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.”

© Barnadhya Rwitam Sharma