There is no question that there are some people in this world who are dying, just dying to screw you out of something, anything. These people will take everything they can from you and they will do it while acting through what they call "friendship." These people are leeches who steal away your life blood. Very often they are of the opposite sex and use the act of physical love to make their ends meet. However, friends often do the most damage and will very often be the first ones to throw you under whatever bus they can find. There is nothing easy in this life and very often it is the people that surround us, the one's we thought cared about us, who do the most damage. All things considered, no matter who we surround ourselves with, no matter who we claim to love and no matter who claims to love us... it is ourselves we must love first. This cannot be done through the use of another person as a means to that end. Once we individually figure out how to treat ourselves with the things that bring us calm and/or joy we can move forward while making clearer decisions about those we choose to surround ourselves with and those we choose to leave alone.