Human nature makes me gaslighted

When I saw this prompt, I've been thinking about what to write and to make it easier for me, a scenario happened yesterday that I would love to share with you all. We are in a world where people no longer care about relationships or friendships, we just want to do what's needed, get what we want, and move on not minding the good people we lose in the process. Sometimes when I listen to some people's betrayal stories, I ask myself "Are these people human at all?", the heart of we humans is so concealed that your enemy might be your best friend and you will not have the slightest clue of who is behind your predicaments.

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A friend called me yesterday at about 11 pm Nigerian time, he was crying on the phone and that got me worried, I was impatient because I wanted to know what could make a grown man shed tears. I asked, "Man what's wrong?" I started asking different questions like "Were you robbed?, did someone die?, Did you lose your job?" he couldn't give me a response, and that made me pause a bit to calm him down. Whatever could make him cry is something that hurt him so much.

After a while, he was able to catch his breath and calm down a bit then he asked a question "Why are we humans so wicked?" I sighed because I wasn't expecting such a question. I had to think for a while before responding to his question because I didn't want to say anything that would hurt him more. "Darling", I started," humans choose who they want to be either wicked or kind, it is their decision, they aren't wicked because they want to hurt you, that's just who they are".

"Can you tell me what happened, stop putting me in suspense", I said, I was expecting him to tell me what happened but he asked another question. "What is friendship?" , "Okay, friendship is loving someone in truth, standing for them when needed, supporting them when you can, and making them feel important and part of your life in one way or the other", I replied. He shouted "Yes", I was wondering why he shouted so loudly.

"I chose my enemies as friends", he began, "I am a plain person, you know that right?" he asked, I replied, "Yes, I know you are, what happened?". "My two friends whom I trusted so much backstabbed me", he continued. "That is a bit serious" was all I could say at the moment while I waited for him to tell me the full story of what happened. "I was going through some financial challenges that affected me so much that I had to displace some of my properties and I told my friends about it, thinking they would have my back and support me but I was wrong", he began.

I feel sorry for him but in this speech I can see he is in much pain. "There is this girl I've been trying to woo and as my friend, I didn't see anything bad in me telling them things about me, I told them about the girl unknown to me and that they have their eyes on the girl too", he said. At that point, I didn't know how to pacify him because I could sense the anger in our conversation. Then I replied, "what did they do in particular?" "Both of them went to our favorite bar with the girl and told her the secrets I thought I told my friends" he continued, it was at that point I was caught off guard. I shouted "Ha!!!, that's too much now, I thought ladies do that". He replied, "Well my friends did, they told her all the things I'm going through, painted me black like I was a criminal".

I didn't want to be a motivational speaker instead I asked "What will you do next?", he shouted at me and asked, "What do you expect me to do? To still be friends with those monsters?". "I'm only asking because you will decide to do", that was my response to him and we ended the call. After some minutes, I was still thinking about the whole conversation, putting myself in his shoes. I asked myself, "What would I have done to such friends?". I couldn't give myself a convincing answer because I didn't know what I would do. Then I realized that people no longer care about how others feel as long as they get what they want. What then is friendship all about?

Thanks for your time and your comments will be appreciated.