Latest / Forged In The Dark / At Least the Snake Was Honest
Transcript
- Forged In The Dark: The most dangerous people don't always come with a warning. They come disguised as your friend, your coworker, your partner, business, or romantic. They may even come disguised with a beautiful, well-curated profile. So today we are flipping the words, the concept, the phrase. Snake in the grass on its head, and I've got a a story that is that that's too good. Like I couldn't have made it up. Welcome to Forged in the Dark. I am your host Jamie. Let's dig in. Now the other day I was scrolling through my photo library looking for a very specific photo when I landed on the the photos and the videos that are around this story. I back in June 2024, I was dog sitting. Sitting for a friend, cute little dog named Gus. And Gus and I were enjoying a very pleasant afternoon in the backyard. He was happily being a dog, going around, finding all the smells, chasing the butterflies, and I was working on the back porch. And out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that Gus had stopped. And I looked up. And it looked like he was smelling a massive ant pile. Now, in in Texas, all it takes is a little bit of rain and and these like huge ant piles will just appear overnight. So I I I like mentally tracked that I needed to treat that that ant pile and went back to my work. But it was probably not even a minute later, that I looked back up because Gus hadn't moved. But what was moving was the ant pile. And in that moment, I didn't even have time to register. I just knew that it wasn't an ant pile. And I was on my feet, and then I saw it was a snake. And then I'm yelling at Gus and he's not responding. And he's the sweetest little thing. He was literally just staring at it with that. you know how dogs cock their head when they're really curious? Like what What's that? Like, let me turn my head to the side. What's this? So he his head is going back and forth and he's trying to figure out what he's looking at. And I knew it was a snake. I didn't know what kind of snake it was until I got closer and I saw the rattles. So I got close enough to grab Gus by his collar and I got him in the house. Well, while all of this was happening, the neighbors' dogs started losing it. And when I say they were losing it, they were losing it. And the neighbors are yelling at their dogs to be quiet. And I'm yelling back at the neighbors: no, no, the dogs are doing their job. I got a snake here. And now the neighbors are at the fence and the they're yelling and their dogs are going crazy. And the snake is now mad. But the most interesting things like what would would take place over the next few minutes because this snake was not interested in me at all. This snake was moving in my general direction, but its attention was on the people and the animals on the other side of the fence. This snake came all the way up onto my patio. I was within feet of it recording it, and its attention was solely on the people making the most noise. Now, I think the the moral of today's story, I will just do a little spoiler for you, is that not all snakes are bad, even the venomous ones. And not all shiny objects that look perfect and nice are good. And and it's not only your job to watch where you're stepping, but it's your job to question the story you are telling yourself about these things. The snake historically has been labeled through mythology and religion and books and movies to be bad, to be evil. But I want you to think about not just rattlers, but any kind of snake. When was the last time you watched a snake attack unprovoked? It is the difference in the environment. They so you're walking through your yard and you step on a snake because you didn't see it and you get bit. And I know how bad it's going to suck for you if that is a venomous snake. But just because the the the snake is venomous, even if the snake bites you, it doesn't mean the snake is bad. The snake does not have a complex brain to process rational thought and say, I'm in the middle of someone's yard. Let me see if I can stay out of their way. No, the snake is in its known environment and will only attack when triggered. But let's talk about the other side of this. Let's talk about the people in your life. Like the shiny objects, the pretty ones, the ones that come in a nice package, the ones that seem on the surface to be on your side. But completely unprovoked attack. Now we all know someone like this. we all know someone that has been labeled the snake in the grass. He is bad. She is bad. But for the sake of this, we have these people in our lives that look good. They might even show up and have the right words. But underneath, their intentions are not pure. They, they, they are not honest. They they have an ulterior motive. And and again, I can't stress this enough. The worst part is these people attack unprovoked. Now, this snake, the whole time it was in my yard, the whole time it was on my porch for whatever reason, whether it was you know, the snake reading the energy, knowing that from its like wildish nature that I wasn't going to hurt it. I had no desire to kill that snake. I didn't care if it was a rattler. I didn't care how big it was. I wasn't killing it. It knew that I was not a threat. And it knew that the people on the other side of the fence were a threat. Not all threats come with a warning sign. Like that snake just wanted to get away. It just wanted to be left alone. So the rattlers going t-t. People in life will come at you unprovoked. And it is your job to look for the warning signs. And when the warning signs aren't there, as soon as you start to see people's red flags, that's your time to bail. That's your time to. To to leave. Now, I mean, I think pretty much any one of you listening is going to say, my gosh, a seven or eight-foot rattlesnake, I'm out. But the people in your life, Not all harmful things come with a warning label. And what I am getting at. Is not all snakes are bad, venomous or non-venomous, and not all people are good. And it is your job to use your discernment to choose what people you have in your life and what people you don't. And once you see that there is a person in your life that is not a quality person, it is not your job to stay. It's your job to cut that snake off at the head and bail. And I'm not saying cause physical harm to anyone. I'm saying, get out, go, save yourself. This snake in my yard was just trying to get away from all of us. Snakes in their natural environment, like this rattler, needs its venom to survive against much bigger predators. But but but What happens when the predators are disguised as your friends, your coworkers, you get it, right? Your job is to identify who is a good quality human that you want in your life and who is not a good quality human and you don't want them in your life. Not All people come with warnings as significant as a tail that goes. least the snake doesn't lie about having fangs. There are people in your life, if you allow them will deceive you, that will lie to you. And at least this rattler in my backyard was telling the truth. It was minding its own business. It was leaving us alone. And then it gave us a warning. And no one was hurt. But what can we learn if we take a step back and look at things differently? You think the snake is bad because you've always been told snakes are bad. But when left alone in their natural environment, they're never going to come hunt you down. For the people in your life that are coming to hunt you down, it is your job to stop it now. Dead in it dead in its tracks before it has a chance to poison your life any further. Okay. That's what I have for you today. Don't be the snake in the grass. Identify the snakes in your grass. Look at it from a different perspective. All the things. Until next time.