As I settled in my chair after completely roasting one of my colleagues, an angelic alter ego in me resented at the course of actions I took, “You use criticism as a weapon of destruction. You absolutely destroyed John, just for the sake of revenge and satisfaction.”
It was devilish alter ego that appeared in my defence, “Oh, now you speak, where were you when John tried to undermine him by saying that he is always late for work?”
The angelic alter ego was expecting a similar kind of response from me as well, so he was already prepared with the answer, well before the devilish alter ego finished, “What John said was right, he is always late. If a criticism is good, then there should be such good-hearted people in the world.”
Devil: “Damn, mate where did you sell your common sense? If John was so concerned about him, then he would have said that in person not in front of the delivery head and other folks.”
Angel: “Did that change a dime for him? Everyone, every time, everywhere is criticizing someone or other for something. But what he did right now, was totally unjust and uncalled for. Why would you tell the entire team, the girl he was trying to go out with, rejected and roasted him.”
Devil: “Her response was so damn funny, ‘I only date in my species’ only an idiot would not tell such an interesting reply to others.”
I intervened in middle and asked the angel, “So what criticism means to you?”
Angel: “Apart from classifying it as constructive or destructive, I think criticism can be classified in two sub types one would be private and public criticism. A constructive criticism, either public or private helps you evolve into a better being. It is up to you to be affected by the negative criticism around you. Devil has an important role in inciting people to spread a negative criticism. The modus operandi are simple for such people, just push the blame on others and criticize them for anything and everything.”
The devil had an ear to ear wide grin on his face as the angel concluded his statement. The moment I saw the evil grin; I knew he had come up with a comeback statement. Though I was tempted to interrupt the conversation and calling it a day, but then I wanted to hear the comeback, the devil was so eager to throw at him.
The devil made a serious face and said, “Well, what you said is right, I do incite people, but the evil deeds they do, are hatched in their own mind. I just push them a bit. But what about you? You are the angel, the incorruptible, the chosen one. What do you do? You spoke about my role in inciting negative public criticism, but you prey on the weak. Those who are lack self-belief and confidence. What you do to them? You just make them doubt their own judgments and make them over critical of their own work, you set them on their own destructive paths by diminishing their self-esteem. You ignite the belief in them that if they take the fall for everything bad that happens, they would end up making everyone around them happy and then this slowly turns into a habit for them. In the end they are left shattered and broken for life. You are the worst of worst, under the pretext of good deeds, you destroy them. Sometimes I wonder who the true devil is here.”
I could see the angelic alter ego was about to break down, and a devil taking over would have meant John would have had the worst day of his entire miserable life, so just at that moment I interrupted the angel as he was about to speak, “Woha, Devil, mate pour yourself and drink and chill. You know what, guys, you exist within me and this is turning out to be a war over myself. And as you know neither do I fall under the over critical category nor am I low on self-esteem. So now both of you just shut the fuck up! We will deal with John later.”
I had to silence my alter egos and end the negative self- criticism!!!
storyInky 