... what is a friend?

'Friend' gets thrown around way too easily. What exactly constitutes a friend? How often do we confuse friends with aquaintances?

I remember back in high school I pretty much regarded everyone I knew as a friend. I mean, if we sat together at lunch, sat next to each other in class, or were on the basketball team together ... we were friends, right?

After years of feeling that way, and years of most of those people falling well short of the mark, I have learned to reserve the term for a very select group of people in my life. If I refer to you as a friend, it's for good reason.

Friends are few and far between in most cases. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of nice people in the world. Plenty of people that will do things for you, when they can. But that doesn't mean they are friends.

Friends are ones that show up, before you had a chance to ask. They are the ones that you know you can ask, without hesitation. They are the ones that ask if they can help, and mean it.

'Friend' carries alot of responsibility. You can't call yourself someones friend if you are willing to stand idly by while they screw up their lives. You can't be someones friend if you are willing to let them take the blame for something you've done. You are not truly a friend to someone if you put your needs ahead of theirs.

It's like Rocky told Paulie when he had to bail him out of jail at the begining of Rocky III, "Friends don't owe ... they do because they wanna do".

Just consider all this, the next time you refer to someone as a friend. Stop and think for a moment ... do they deserve such a responsibility in your life?

- blogged from my iPhone

Location:Sandpiper Cir,Cheraw,United States