A PATH TO AVOID

The words will not match the accompanying illustration, and for that I apologize. 

It assumes hominal form but exhibits no human traits. It possesses no moral compass. It doesn’t comprehend love. It is unable to perform a single act of human decency. It views kindness as opportunity. It exploits and extracts until there’s nothing left of you to take. It puts up with you because it wants something from you. It will destroy you to get it. Apologies are often spoken but never meant. It regards your misfortune as an inconvenience. “Get over it”, it says. “Move on and forgive me. Otherwise you’re only wasting my time.”

A list has been compiled. There’s a mark by your name. This is because it fears the consequences of its actions. The list is there to insure that a safe distance is kept between it and the people it has violated. The fact that a list is even necessary is a testament to the acts of malevolence it arrogantly and unapologetically commits. If there’s no mark by your name, it might forget that it has ruined you and attempt to go back for seconds. 

It is clever enough to acquire small fortunes and maintain illusions of status, but so blissfully stupid that nothing is ever kept for very long.  This foolishness comes in the form of a cocktail consisting of vanity, arrogance and a need to have immediate desires met at all cost. It demands pleasures and comforts. It will destroy lives to obtain them. 

It thrives in anonymity. Aliases are often used, though not for reasons you might expect. The crimes it commits and the catastrophes it causes are not what keep it hidden among us. It holds no intrinsic value. Its only attribute is the fact that it can pass for human. It absorbs and consumes without retaining or returning any substance. Once this truth is revealed, you are no longer susceptible to its charms.