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I admire a lot of people. Not the romantic type of admiration, regard with respect, that is.

Respect on how they live their lives or what they believe in.

I met a man whom I admired for his character. He’s not the type of person who says something and does something else. He doesn’t pray five times a day only to drink alcohol by the end of the day.

I admire him for keeping up to his words and living the life the way he believes it should be lived, something even I, cannot do.

I admired him till the day I heard about his so called affair with a woman, who’s already having an affair with another man. A bit complicated, but that’s how the story was told.

I immediately lost all my admiration for him. I told myself, then you’re just like everyone else. You also have your dark side, a little devil that dwells within, hidden by a righteous pretense.

He was the talk of the island for quite some time.  People talked about him left, right and center. Some people even had the audacity to ask him upfront.

I watched and listened.

He never admitted nor denied anything. He just laughed.

In the end, the reality came out. He was vindicated. I felt shame. I was judgmental. Just like everyone else.

I admired him more afterwards, especially when I saw how he handled the issue with composure. He could now laugh at everyone who accused him of having this affair that never existed in the first place. He could laugh at me now for believing a tale, so unreal, so unfair.

There’s a little devil that dwells within us. Sometimes it whispers dark things to our gullible hearts and naive minds. Sometimes it wins, sometimes it does not.

We’re mere humans. We all have our dark sides. It doesn’t leave us. Just like our shadow. It follows us all around.

Our dark side takes over us sometimes, but our shadows don’t.

Let our dark side be just like our shadow. Leave them behind, let them follow you. But never let them lead you.