Shut Up and Let Me Go

Personally, I can not think of an instance where I had to convince someone to do something that I wanted them to do. `However, I do know that my friends have had to do it to me in the recent history.

Technically, it was last year, but really, it was only a few weeks ago. I did not know it at the time, but my friends were planning a surprise birthday party for me and my friend David, who has his birthday a week after mine. They were going to set it up in my basement, so they needed to give David a reason to come to my house and to get me out of my house long enough to decorate and bring food and games.

This task fell to two of my other friends, Ally and Dalton, who cleverly set up a movie seeing that afternoon before the party. Ally also suggested that afterwards, she should come over so that we could play one of my favorite video games, and Dalton, being Dalton, invited himself and David along on this ride. We got there, and ta da!

That is a pretty positive way of viewing something like that, however, as many times people convince you to do things for them for their own personal gain, not caring if you win alongside them or end up losing. Take for example those sly businessmen and politicians that are often featured as antagonists in modern movies. The top businessmen and politicians know to make important connections with the right people, and they mostly do it entirely for the sake of advancing themselves up the corporate or political ladder. They have complete apathy towards what happens to the pawns they use to achieve these ends.

That being said, there are times when people will be uncooperative with something involving their own good, and having this skill of manipulation is useful then. However, it must be treated with caution because it gives one power, and as the great Peter Parker's uncle said, with great power comes great responsibility.