9:19pm: Friendship for sale
I was talking to someone about friendship the other day, well really it was a few months ago.
They were telling me that you are lucky to have one good friend in your lifetime. Just one person who you could turn to and know they were true.
I on the other hand have had a small cadre of people that repeatedly came to my aide and I to theirs. Was this a unique thing about me, or was this something that was odd around those people.
On one of my many trips into self exploration, this one taking me to New Orleans, Atlanta and finally DC, I came to a realization. I had bought my friends loyalty, I had paid for it with my own loyalty. To have someone at your back, you have to have proven that you have their back. You have to give with out measure, and never expect anything in return. You have to love wildly and passionately all of those you wish to have as friends. The toll it takes on you to do so is harsh, you will be burnt often. You will run into those who do not care for you only themselves, but eventually you will inspire loyalty, and that is the coin of friendship, the currency of camaraderie.
Thank you to those who have been a friend, and to those I have helped in my life time, thank you for being part of my life, and for those who have helped me my hat is off to you. I am not an easy person to deal with most the times.
Joseph