The Enemy We Can’t See

2ne time I got a distressed call from a friend in 0anila. 6he was a chief producer at a leading T9 station, a position she earned after ten years in the company. Then, she was assigned a student intern from a reputable school. 2n their very first meeting, the girl kidded my friend that she wanted the chief producer position.

Initially the intern did not in any way look like a real threat. But as the girl was soon being eyed by management for the job of segment producer, my friend was getting quite concerned. Considering the lack of job security in the media world, and the fact that the girl was only , while my friend was already , the lady’s worry was understandable.

I told her that a readily recogni]able enemy was easier to deal with than one that creeps around unnoticed. $n open rival would allow her to prepare and put up a defense. If the student intern was really determined to get my friend’s job, at least she was fair enough in making known her intention early on.

The story of that young intern hints of the competition going on in the world, of the insecurity and temporariness that pervade our worldly life. 2ur hold on anything ± wealth, health, youth, loved ones, a job, life itself, anything ± is not absolute. $lways, there is a possibility of losing or of someone trying to take away what we hold dear.

$ sense of competition can bring out the best in people. It can also draw out their worst. 5ivals will try to perfect their abilities, including the ability to demolish each other. (very competitor is a potential saboteur to the other contender. It is common knowledge that the drive to win a fight naturally comes with the desire to destroy the opponent.

$t the same time, the range of cruelty and ugliness that can spring from competition is unimaginable. +uman beings are very fierce competitors. 0any people believe that the world is a finite pie, and that they can only get ahead by whisking others out of their way. They’ll do whatever it takes to make sure that their perceived rivals won’t get a fighting chance.

There will always be people who will try to impede our progress, ruin our wellbeing, nip our happiness. 6ome want to grab our blessings others simply like to see us fail. $nd, while open enemies are bad enough to have, the secret ones are much more dangerous. They do their demolition job on us beneath the surface, giving us no inkling of what’s about to hit us.

There was someone I knew who outwardly seemed to be everyone’s perfect ally. 3eople came to him for help. $nd he was usually generous with both sound advice and material support. But when the people he was helping began to succeed, threatening to equal his own success and status, he would then insidiously undermine their self confidence and cause them to doubt their own abilities. $nd since people took his advice as constructive criticism, he often succeeded in emotionally sabotaging them.

$nd it may surprise us to find out that many of our saboteurs are people we thought to be our friends and supporters. 0any of them probably were, until they began to feel disturbed by our progress. 6ome people view others’ ascent to be in the way of their own efforts to gain a good job or rank, or a threat to their ego. They feel bothered when others are making personal and career progress. This is especially true among people who are at a certain point in their lives where they could go no further.

(ven our own family may unintentionally hamper our chances for advancement by their very sheltering concern and protection. They may see us to be too ine[perienced to accomplish anything significant and wants us to keep down our goals, to shield us from possible disappointment. Their intention is nice but, just the same, it can undermine our own growth.

6till, sometimes people try to bring us down for no apparent reason. They e[pend time and energy for no perceptible gain at all, e[cept perhaps to satisfy a sick desire to destroy others. In fact, whom they dislike, and why they dislike them, seems to be immaterial. 0aybe you remind them of a despised relative or a spouse who left them, or maybe they just don’t like your haircut. :hat’s worse, they may not be aware of their quirk and there may be nothing you can do about it.

In a sense, we are still lucky to be attacked overtly, even if the affront is unwarranted, for we have a chance to retaliate or defend ourselves accordingly. It is so hard to fight an opponent that doesn’t come out in the open. The enemy we can’t see is the most dangerous of all.