An openly declared enemy often has more principles and honor than a false friend.

While an adversary might wage war against you for a position at the top, he would never meddle with your family, dishonor your home, or insult your children.

A treacherous friend, on the other hand, could visit your home for years, all the while coveting what is yours; as he dines at your table, he studies the weaknesses within your home, ready to ruin your marriage and steal your assets, with no moral restraint or concern for the consequences this will bring to all the lives involved.

Today, I better understand my parents’ rules about “not visiting the neighbors’ houses too often” because it also brings an obligation to reciprocate. Also, avoid becoming too close or familiar with people you don’t know well; for no matter how long you’ve known a friend, can you really say you know what’s going on in his mind right now?

The old castles had rules:

1. Strangers were limited to specific areas, like the outer courtyard, far from the most private or strategic places.

2. Visitors were rarely left unaccompanied.

3. The castle gates would close at sunset.

However humble your home may be, protect what is most valuable within it. Have principles as strong as the walls of a fortress in this world of Sodom. If you treat your home carelessly, like an exposed shack full of gaps, eventually, venomous intruders will creep inside, intertwine with what is vulnerable, and kill what you love most.