DOGS only bark at strangers. If a dog knows you, it will happily scamper toward you. If it does not know you, all hell breaks loose.

Same thing with people. Haven’t you noticed, those who know you keep their mouths shut. While those who do not, berate, insult and yes bark at you. Those who know you will not say anything, trusting you enough or at least their silence means they know you. While those who hardly know you, act like they can see your thoughts and feel what you feel. They insult you, think they know everything about you when in fact, the opposite is true. You do not believe that? Try listening to gossip about you.

You will quickly discover that the people who talk about you either do not know you at all or have a grudge about you. We all have been victims of people who think they know you. Those people who make up stories, spread lies and just be barking dogs. A few years ago, that happened to me. And I got to see who my friends were because they did not say anything. They knew me enough to know what was true and not. Those who think they knew me were the chatterboxes, the ones who could not stop talking. Dogs only bark at strangers. And oh yes they were a pack.

But who cares, right? Dr. Seuss said it best. “Those who mind do not matter and those who matter do not mind.” If your friends are what they claim to be, they will keep their silence and wait for you to explain, if you wish to. But even if you do not, your friends know. A good friend of mine once told me, “They must have done something so bad to you for them to talk about you this way.” Exactly. It is not about you, it is about them. When people put you down, it is not a reflection of you but of them and their true colors. It really does float to the surface. One of the surest ways to discover the malice of others is when they portray themselves as victims. Or when they try to make themselves look good at your expense. Dogs only bark at strangers.

Do not worry about barking dogs though. Most of them just bark. There is nothing beyond the bark most of the time. The scary ones are the ones that just pounce on you. In fact be grateful that they create noise because you are warned of their insanities. The louder, the better.

I used to think that the silence of my friends meant they were distancing themselves. I only realized later on, that their silence meant trust and understanding.

I am grateful for the quietness of friends.