Self-Created Enemies ... RST

 

Self-Created Enemies

The strangest enemies in this world
are not the ones who raise their swords
nor the ones who shout our names in anger.

They are born quietly
in the silent corners of the mind.

A doubt becomes a whisper,
a whisper becomes a suspicion,
and suspicion slowly grows
into a shadow we begin to fear.

We imagine footsteps behind us
where there is only wind.
We hear betrayal in silence
where there is only distance.

Thus the mind—
that delicate architect of thought—
builds a battlefield
out of unfinished conversations
and misunderstood glances.

We turn strangers into rivals,
friends into suspects,
and ordinary moments
into secret conspiracies.

Yet the truth sits patiently,
like a calm river beside the storm:

Many of the enemies we fight
were never born in the world.

They were written
by the trembling pen of our fears,
painted by the restless colors of ego,
and given faces
by the imagination of our insecurities.

How many wars could end
if we only paused
to ask our hearts one gentle question:

“Is this enemy real,
or is it a shadow
standing behind my own doubt?”

For when the mind becomes clear,
the battlefield disappears.

And we discover
that the fiercest opponent
we ever faced

was a story
we told ourselves.