Trust, Honesty and Respect

We as a race, I believe, are not meant to live an existence of loneliness. Some of us choose to do so and are happy to live their lives this way, I have nothing against this, but believe we are social animals, but I respect that persons right to chose, others do so through no fault of their own, either through the loss of a loved one, or having been left by that special someone who wanted something or someone else.

What we all want and need though I believe is trust, honesty and respect. This may come from our families or our peers, but mostly it comes from our friends. If you are lucky enough, you will be able to share your most intimate secrets with a member of your family, most of us however do not have this, so we turn to our friends when we need them, as we know they will always be there.

When you enter into a friendship you respect that persons views or beliefs, you may not agree with them, but you will, and do respect them. You can agree to disagree but a mutual respect is what keeps that friendship alive. You have the knowledge that you can tell them anything and they will listen, they may not agree, but they respect you enough to let you have your say. When you ask them to do, or not to do something, they respect you enough to do as you ask.

You ask for their trust from that person, to tell you when you need them to that things are going to be okay when you cant see the light at the end of the tunnel. To be there to share the tears and heartbreak that life will always throw at us when we least expect it. To be there to offer support and encouragement to see you through those difficult times, but most importantly to also share the good times, the laughter and joy, those special bonds that only friends have from shared memories, a look, a glance that can reduce you to fits of laughter at the slightest instance, sharing moments that only you and your friends can share, that is what makes friendship so special and us unique as human beings.

Most of all though we ask for honesty, painful, hurtful, honesty, sometimes that we don't want to hear but only a friend can deliver, even when family have told us the same thing , and we have chosen not to listen, do we accept it from a friend. We know that the person we have shared our most intimate memories with will tell us honestly what they think, we may not want to hear it but we will listen, then take that person and hold them tightly to thank them only the way a friend can.

When this trust is broken it hurts more than any other, who do you turn to too speak to? We are left with many questions, why did they not respect me enough to not do that, why did they lie to me?, why did i trust them?. Painful questions that sometimes we may never get the answers to but will continue to ask, eating away at our self esteem until another friend picks us up and dusts us down, then tells us that everything will be okay and helps us move on.

The betrayal of a friend can be more painful than that of a loved one, but we will continue to follow the path of making friends throughout our life times. Some we make at school and they last forever, some we make through work and last a little while, some you lose through changing circumstances and some sadly you lose through death or betrayal.

We should cherish everyone of the friends we make, you never know how long they will last but whilst they do enjoy them as this is what memories are made of. Your best friend at school who has drifted away, the friend you went to lunch with or for a drink after work with who you no longer see, the friend you went to the local disco with, you may still know them, you may not through different reasons, but I bet reading this you have remembered the good times you had together, and I also bet I made you smile a little?

Above all though treat your friends with, Trust, Honesty and Respect, because with out this they aren't worth having, and you may miss out on some truly wonderful experiences which will last a lifetime.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Anthony