Imagine someone pushes another person to the edge, not out of cruelty, but calculation.
They cross the line. Hammer you to a point of desperation.
They draw you in, soften your defenses, make you believe they’re on your side.
Maybe they are.
But not before they’re sure you’re worth standing beside.
That’s the first test.
Test your mettle.
Test your strength.
People aren’t always playing the role you think.
Sometimes, before they join your team, they need to challenge you first.
To see if you break… or bend.
If your convictions are real… or just rehearsed.
Just like Pi, irrational, infinite, unknowable; some people refuse to be rounded down.
In Batman, The Dark Knight, Alfred said it well about the Joker:
Some men aren’t looking for anything logical, like money. They can’t be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with.
But not everyone like that wants to watch the world burn.
Some men just want to watch the world thrive.
To protect what’s good, even if it means being misunderstood.
To sharpen others, not through comfort, but through confrontation.
So if you’ve met someone like that, don’t take their pressure personally.
It might just mean they see something in you worth refining.
Not everyone is here to break you.
Some are here to forge you.
And when the test comes...
Remember your convictions about pie...
Baking pie is one thing,
Eating pie is another.
What good is pie as an ornament?
When forged for consumption,
Devour it.
As it ought to be.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.