ON FRIENDSHIP: Am I?

Yesterday, the local news program announced that it was National Best Friend Day. I wasn’t aware of the occasion so, to all my best friends, forgive me that there will be no surprise gifts waiting on your tables today. Let me take this day, however, as an excuse to talk about a pending post on my notepad. I think this is the best time to share it.

One day, I had a great conversation with one of my closest friends. He shared with me another conversation he had with another friend – not a common one. A question popped up in the middle of their conversation. A question he asked himself, “Have I really found my friends? Can I tell myself that I have already found the friends who will stand by me and be real to me?”

It’s a good question, right? It’s a question I never really found myself asking. I have always considered myself blessed to be getting the good ones. If there is one thing I know my parents are proud of me, it is my choice of friends. When I was younger, I’d bring my friends to our house and I would hear my parents proudly telling them I make good choices so the question never really crossed my mind.

I don’t think there are real and fake friends, it’s either you are friends or you are not - friends or acquaintances, maybe. Friends do not plan to become friends. Friends become. It is both a decision and a responsibility. Just because we know our friends will not leave us doesn’t mean we don’t make an effort to keep them.
So what’s my answer to the question? I don’t have any. But I have a better question, for you and for myself.

Am I being a good friend to my friends?

I guess if we keep this in mind all the time, we already know the answer to the first question.





I first posted this entry here. Photo features three of my closest friends. I have more. We own the photo.