What’s the Intent?

Wouldn’t it be great if you knew the true intent of the people and businesses around you? You certainly would be more comfortable with the full knowledge with that information beforehand. You’d be able to make better decisions for yourself and save yourself a lot of grief. And if you did it anyway you would have no one else to blame but yourself. That last one is a hard one to swallow but it’s the truth. 

Businesses are fairly easy to read.  You already know they are there to make a profit and hopefully create a returning clientele.  Deception occurs if you find out they knew they were selling you a poor bill of goods.  For them it’s a business transaction but for you it might be an emotional one. The great thing about the free market economic system is you can take your business elsewhere.

However let’s say you find out that your girlfriend or boyfriend is seeing others on the side. Worse yet you find out he had no intention on being in an exclusive relationship.  You’d be understandably heartbroken and that’s not easy to forgive.

Now let’s say your neighbor, with good intention, tends to your lawn while you’re out of town. Unfortunately he fertilizes your lawn with grass killer instead of fertilizer. Your grass is dead. He feels bad about it and is willing to make amends. In this case the neighbor had good intention but it didn’t work out the way he had planned. The lawn is fixable. It’s forgivable.

If you knew the true intention of the people you came in contact with, life would be so much easier to maneuver through. Which brings me to my next point, “Why don’t people just let you know their true intention?”

FEAR - They’re afraid you won’t go out with them. They’re afraid you won’t like them. They’re afraid you’ll quit your job. They’re afraid you won’t help them out. They’re afraid to be alone. They’re afraid you won’t love them anymore. It can go on and on. It’s based on insecurity. They’re looking for you to fill the void they have and it’s just not possible. Only they can fill that.

What do you do? Not a whole lot. You can convey your true intention and then live up to it because you can only control how you react to what’s happening around you. The rest is up to the other person.