Maturity I believe is the basis for friendships that last, but that isn’t how they always begin. Some of the best I’ve ever known, I made between the ages of 11 and 14…we were pals. There is a different between pals and friends, pals laugh, hang out, share good times, but friends carry each others burdens, not only walk with them but will carry them through the desert if the need requires. Friends will share last drop of water to keep the other alive. Friends, are the deepest commitment a sentient being can be with another, because a friend is more important than self.
That is one of my failings with facebook, see I use it not as a community of social networking as much as a way to build up friendships. I open up, and I expect a certain level of acceptance, so I’m very “picky” who gets to be a “FRIEND”.
I am the friend of someone, young, who has never really been exposed to what “friendship” truly requires. For her, I feel deep emotions. She does not feel the same. For friendship to continue, she has to be willing to share my pain. Why? Because I’m willing to go through the pain of watching her fall in love with another, continue to be her friend, and help that relationship succeed, because I love her unconditionally, meaning, there is nothing she can do to lose my love. Unfortunately, she has yet to discover, that to be my friend, means she also has to live with that pain, because we bare each others burdens…that is what friends do. It doesn’t mean she feels the same as me, it means she feels the weight of the cross I carry for her, and chooses to walk with me in it, even though she accepts that she will make a life for herself with another, someday.
I’m fortunate to have the many deep friendship I have. I’m also fortunate to have only have ever been in love twice, and I hope there isn’t a third. It’s my curse to only be attracted to those with the fortitude and demure nature to resist any advances from someone as opposite to them as me. Yet, though I live alone, though I die alone, I have friends with relationships that I believe will last forever…death can’t stop true Love, and friends are made by this very thing.
Wisdom is Found Through Experience 