Two friends separately shared similar tales with me out of unease and concern. After hearing them both out, their stories seemed more than déjà vu. It turned out, they were talking about the same reaction to the same person only at different times and situations. All I could say about the person my friends were talking about after was…
IKAW NA.
(A more sarcastic and less gendered translation of “you’re the man”)
Some people’s actions leave us flattered/concerned/bothered because we may think that they behave around us rather uniquely. That is until life surprises us with the realization that they actually treat some if not most of the others similarly. Perhaps, even identically.
Feeling disconcerted and unappreciated actually is normal afterwards given that our self-concept of being special and unique suddenly becomes swallowed by the abyss of commons. However, we should remind ourselves that we deal with people who are hopefully consistent in terms of their behavior and personality. Thus, they might just be the kind of individual who treats everyone exceptionally to a faulty point which breeds confusion and false hope. And the fragile and vulnerable ones suffer the brunt of the agony.
Thus, examine yourself, the person, other parties involved and the experience first before jumping to conclusions. You can never really believe that s/he treats you uniquely unless her/his behavior heavily supports her/his tongue bath. Aside from that, keep yourself strong and positive so that despite whichever kind of individual tempts and tortures you, you would be able to treat them how they deserve to be treated.
Instead of telling them the dreaded IKAW NA, we’ll be able to tell them…
AKO NA ANG STRONG.
AKO NA.
(I’m the strong one. It is me.)
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