Don't hate me because I'm beautiful

You know those people - the beautiful people for whom all is easy. The kind that other people fall over themselves to clear obstacles, provide offerings of devotion or just to profess love.

These people never had to work at anything because they just never had to. They never had to expend any effort in planning because it all just fell into their lap. That's the way they expected it and that's the way people around them learned to expect it.

Then some time passes and the beauty starts to fade as the inevitable wrinkles, dings and nicks of time start to manifest themselves. Gifts get a little harder to come by and the adoration of the people becomes more forced. Whereas before people were content to bathe in the glory that is them, now people actually start wanting something in return for the adoration they provided in the past.

Even worse, now they have to start developing skills they never needed before - having to sell their ideas where before they were accepted without question. More and more of their efforts go into proving to people that they are actually useful to have around and that they're not just another pretty face.

Where the people previously accepted their bland reassurances without question, now their life has become wearying as the doubts mount and people take less and less for granted.

They start to become aware that while friends come and go, enemies accumulate with a new readiness and willingness to pounce where before they were content to stay out of the way.

Yesterday's glories recede into the past as the question of the day gets louder, What have you done for me lately?

Then a slow realization dawns: in politics there is no such thing as unconditional love.