Cruel to Be Kind

I heard this song last weekend and although it's been around almost as long as I have, I felt like I was really hearing it for the first time.

And I didn't like its message:

Oh I can't take another heartache
Though you say you're my friend, I'm at my wit's end
You say your love is bonafide, but that don't coincide
With the things that you do
And when I ask you to be nice, you say

You've gotta be cruel to be kind, in the right measure
Cruel to be kind, it's a very good sign
Cruel to be kind, means that I love you, baby
(You've gotta be cruel)
You gotta be cruel to be kind

But do you really? And then today I went to the chiropractor and told him I'd developed full-on yoga butt. On the table I went and man, was the treatment painful.

When I complained, he said "I'm of the mind that you often have to make something worse before it gets better."

Ah, I said, you mean:

You've gotta be cruel to be kind, in the right measure
Cruel to be kind, it's a very good sign
Cruel to be kind, means that I love you, baby
(You've gotta be cruel)
You gotta be cruel to be kind

When I left his office I had a bunch of cupping bruises and my yoga butt felt much better, so I guess I'm going to have to concede that sometimes:

You've gotta be cruel to be kind, in the right measure
Cruel to be kind, it's a very good sign
Cruel to be kind, means that I love you baby
(You've gotta be cruel)
You gotta be cruel to be kind