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Alone Except for the Desert Gardeners

www.JonesToTheGrindstone.com

Planting the seeds of doubt...esp. in the desert!
Planting the seeds of doubt…esp. in the desert!

Planting a seed of doubt in someone’s head is a very powerful tool of manipulation.The sole motive can be to upset another person for one’s own devilish amusement. Watching the seed grow into a Giant Sequoia overnight is the ultimate prize for those who perpetrate this game.

This sequoia weighs down the victim—he can’t even think anymore. And he  lashes out at the very person he loves the most, often a wife or girlfriend. Then, the evil gardener can wash his hands of the dirt he carefully tilled and walk away to go tend to another plot.

An idyllic setting for this game is a long military deployment in the desert. Certain jobs have extended waiting periods between intense duty responsibilities, like Air Force flight line maintenance jobs. Down time has the guys hanging around and leaves an open fly for gossip and rumors.

For example, Paul, new to the base in Qatar, was on a regular shift with the same group of guys night after night. The beat on that shift was talking about who’s spouse is back at home cheating and how often. The conspiring gardeners noticed Paul’s discomfort. So, Paul’s new work buddies began to team-up against him and incessantly talk about all the unbridled, extramarital sex going on back in the States.

Paul hated leaving his beautiful wife at home, alone, for all those months– neglected. As time goes by and the distance between couples seems to grow daily, a person can forget the true character of their spouse. The seed began to root into Paul’s thoughts— like was she running around town picking up men now? What is she really doing on the weekends? Why, now, all of a sudden does she want a Facebook account?

Of course, for Paul, the temptation to accuse his wife of lying and cheating became too overwhelming to ignore. All of the gardeners’ tender loving care of manipulation had grown roots.  All the other guy’s spouses are cheating on them, so Paul’s must be doing the same. Right? Paul begins to text his wife relentlessly questioning her whereabouts and wants the specs on every single person she has contact with. Paul keeps going through his fact checker list to make sure everything she has said is lining up and staying the course.

Now, Paul is having trouble functioning at work. The roots of the sequoia have strangulated his thought processes. His brain is in a vice grip. Even his superior has noticed that Paul isn’t concentrating enough to keep the work place safe.

For Pete’s sake, will someone get rid of those gardeners? Haven’t they done their job—-Paul is a mental wreck.

The Great Sequoia had reached for the sky with Paul as its earth. Those gardeners cultivated a tower of a tree with the newbie, Paul. On his last leg, he finally asked his supervisor for a shift change. Enough was enough.

Soon after being on the new shift, Paul returned to his regular self. No longer did he routinely attack his wife’s love and fidelity. Amazing what the right manure can do for the gardeners.