I don't think that I ever could be manipulative. I'm not claiming any particular virtue on my part. It is just that in order to manipulate someone, you have to be able to predict how they will respond to your actions, and I'm very bad at predicting how people will respond to my actions.
I have read about some techniques that people use to manipulate others, and I sometimes recognize when someone tries to use them on me, but I am unable to use the techniques myself. I'm just too self conscious; I couldn't pull it off.
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"Like lonely ghosts, at a roadside cross, we stay, because we don't know where else to go." -- Orenda Fink