How to recognize an evil and mean person in your environment: A Jewish proverb that explains it all

Evil cannot be hidden - sooner or later it comes out, and the Jews explained this simply.

Throughout history, the wisdom of various cultures and traditions has been expressed in powerful and succinct statements. The Jewish tradition, with its rich heritage of philosophical and ethical teachings, offers profound insights into human behavior and morality. One such gem can help us recognize with startling clarity people who cannot be trusted.

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How to spot an evil and mean person from your environment?

Assess him in action. There is no other way. Meanness is something done against another, most often secretly, on the sly. It is important to pay attention to their behavior and reactions to events. An evil person often shows aggression, malice, or a negative attitude towards others. A mean person can show hypocrisy, deceit, or dishonesty in communication. Mean people constantly manipulate others for personal gain.

But it is important to remember that you cannot draw conclusions based on just one sign. To be sure, you need to analyze a person's behavior in different situations and pay attention to the totality of signs.

The Jews say: "Never trust a person who tells you only about his problems, while hiding all his joys from you."

True relationships are built on sharing both joys and sorrows. When someone hides their joys, they are not showing their true self.

A person who trusts you will not hide from you the good news that he was promoted, received a bonus at work or an unexpected inheritance. A good person will share his joy with you.

Why do some people hide their joys?

There could be several reasons. They may be afraid that sharing good news will make other people jealous or put the evil eye on them. But when your conversations are all negativity and complaints, it makes the relationship inherently unhealthy.

Friends rarely remain friends when there is inequality in material status or when one person is successful and the other is not.

Here are some real-life examples: two people became friends while working at the same job. Then the friendship fell apart. How? One got a promotion, and the other didn't. One had a child, and the other tried unsuccessfully for years and remained childless. Over time, they stopped being friends. Anger, resentment, envy, a sense of injustice came between them...

Unfortunately, you can't filter your entire environment with this Jewish proverb, but you can draw life conclusions about many people.

This does not mean that you should share your good news and successes with everyone. A smart person knows that there are only a few people in his environment that he can trust, namely parents, grandparents, children....

When you share your happiness and good fortune, it often results in one of two things: people may become discouraged, believing that they cannot live as skillfully and easily as you do, and begin to devalue their own lives, or they may become envious, and this envy may develop into hatred.

Smart people keep their mouths shut and talk about good and bad only to those closest to them.

Happiness loves silence. This is not just superstition, it is wisdom born of experience.

If someone guards his privacy, keeps it hidden from strangers, and thinks carefully before speaking, he can largely avoid encounters with malicious intent.

A vile person appears only where the soul is wide open and the heart is in the palm of the hand.

The main thing to remember: “Everyone who plots against his neighbor will fall into the pit he dug.” John of Damascus.

What do you think about this? How do you define mean people? Share in the comments!