"Get used to disappointment."
—The Man in Black
No matter how many friends you have... no matter how large your family... no matter how hard you work to build relationships with everybody... the number of people you can actually count on when the chips are down is almost always shockingly small.
Fortunately, I am not speaking from personal experience, but am merely an observer of a situation that's driving me insane. Everybody who should be jumping in to help just... aren't... for some reason. Which means somebody is being left to twist in the wind all alone who deserves much better.
I am far too removed from things to jump in.
And yet I did so anyway, sending a small gift with a note that said "Hear you're in a tough spot. Keep your head up and don't let the bastards get you down."
Today I got a reply which was filled with heart-felt thanks... and an interesting perspective on the situation.
"When you're on the rise you're happy to have friends who can share in your success. But a part of you knows the day will come when you stop rising and start falling. What you don't know is how many of your friends will choose to share the ride back down. Those are the true friends you know you can count on no matter what. I never expected that I would end up having no true friends."
It's enough to make you want to jump out a window. But then he mentioned that he's finding new friends he didn't even know he had, which has made an otherwise horrible experience somehow liberating.
We should all be so unfortunate.
And by "unfortunate," I mean "lucky."
Because you never know when your liberation is at hand...
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I struggle with this sort of thing a lot. I expect everyone to let me down, but deep down I’m hoping they won’t. I jump in to help when I can, not expecting it in return (because that’s not the point.) I figure even if I can’t count on anyone, at least someone can count on me and that has to be enough. I will say though that on those rare occasions that someone does care? It’s awesome when someone turns out to be one of the good ones!
Ditto. Thanks for saving me from having to think this morning. 🙂
“Because you never know when your liberation is at hand…”
Wow, Dave. Wow.
I’ve had a bit of a rough go in the last year and a half and the only thing that really bothered me was the number of “friends” I’ve had who simply dropped off. I’ve reached out to some of them on multiple occasions, just to say hi and I either get a “will call you in a few minutes” with no such call, or a brief and polite email stating they are busy.
Wow…..
This hit home in many ways. Dave, you are one of the good ones. I have yet to meet someone as caring as you are. You always do small gestures for people when you don’t have to. Everyone who has you as a friend is very lucky.
that was nice of you!