Enemies List

As far as I know, I don't have any serious personal enemies. My definition of "enemy" here is somebody who, given the opportunity, would do you personal harm; or, to whom you would do personal harm, given a good chance you could get away with it ...


Not talking about generic enemies -- crazy-hats terrorists or psychotic true believers.


Sure, there are folks with whom I have disagreements. Those who think I am obnoxious and vice-versa. People I wouldn't volunteer to be stuck on an elevator with for anything less than fairly big money, but those aren't so much enemies as annoyances. I don't drift off to sleep worrying about what they might do, or what I would do to them, in the right circumstances. 


In fact, I've only had one serious enemy I can point out. After some years of feeding that fire of resentment, we eventually sat down and agreed to an armistice. Not what I would call a happy peace, but an agreement to cease hostilities. Time, as they say, heals all wounds -- and also wounds all heels; hanging onto anger usually doesn't do you much good. If your gut is churning, your enemy will rejoice. 


A year or so after we achieved détente,  he died -- natural causes -- and that war was over.  Not a win or a loss, just an end. The worst enemies often come from the best friends, which was what happened in my case. You know the old saying: It's easier to forgive an enemy sometimes than to forgive a friend. I missed the friendship for a long time; however, here, my head-scratching admission: I sometimes miss him as an enemy ...


I bring this up because I recently made a post about seeing a guy I didn't care much for, and somebody asked me if this guy was an enemy. In the strictest sense of being on the opposite side of issue, you might say so, but for me, he doesn't rise to the level of what I'd consider any big deal.