The Wolf’s Creed: On Friendship and Truth

I tell people up front: I am not fuzzy. I am not cuddly. If you want a teddy bear, buy one.
I am a wolf.

A wolf is loyal — fiercely loyal. A wolf will guard, protect, and walk beside you through the dark woods. But a wolf also bares teeth at lies, self-delusion, and cowardice — especially when those lies are the ones you tell yourself, the delusion is the story you cling to, and the cowardice is your refusal to climb out of the hole you dug with your own hands.

People sense this from the start. They come with their confessions, their tangled problems, their grief. I sit with them. I help them untangle. I support them emotionally, yes — but also tangibly: encouraging their careers, sending business referrals, sharing lessons drawn from my years of running a business. At first, gratitude flows freely. They seem to recognize the value in what I give.

But over time, gratitude hardens into expectation. Generosity becomes a silent contract. My support — emotional, professional, practical — becomes required, no longer optional. And when results or resources do not arrive as they imagined, the atmosphere shifts. Warmth cools. The dynamic turns transactional. And suddenly, the wolf who gave is the wolf who disappointed.

I warned them. I told them who I am. And yet, when I refuse to soothe their self-deception, when I refuse to anesthetize their cycles of misery, when I refuse to participate in their denial, I am accused of being “cold,” “unloving,” “selfish.” They want the comfort of fur without the reality of fang. They want a protector who never challenges, never bares teeth, never makes them accountable.

Here is my truth: I will not choke quietly so someone else can feel comfortable in their practiced discomfort. I will not suffocate to make room for another’s self-deceit. I am not willing to sacrifice my integrity for the sake of someone else’s denial.

Friendship, in my eyes, is a sacred partnership. It is not about comfort at all costs. It is about honesty, depth, and growth. It is about standing shoulder to shoulder, not one collapsing while the other carries the weight alone. Loyalty without honesty is captivity, not companionship. A wolf in a pack must be able to rely on the other wolves — not a pack crippled by fear, pride, or self-deception.

I have learned that my kind of friendship is not for everyone. That is not arrogance — it is clarity. I am not a resting place for unexamined lives. I am not a confessional where penance is never paid. I am not a business development plan wearing a friendly smile. I am a wolf, and a wolf is never domesticated, never declawed, never tamed to someone else’s comfort.

I am a wolf. Loyal. Fierce. Honest. Protector and challenger.
If I must walk alone, so be it — better to move through life with clarity and integrity than to run with a pack that has crippled itself and calls it strength. I will not trade truth for comfort, nor loyalty for illusion. I will keep my teeth sharp, my senses keen, and my path honest — even if it means walking the forest alone, rather than being chained to a pack that cannot face itself.