So the other night I realized just how much friends mean to me.
Friends. When the word “friend” comes to mind, who pops into your head? There are those we don’t hesitate half a second to think of when hearing the word. It’s those friends that I’m speaking of at present. So many acquaintances we keep, and while there’s little wrong in gregarious friendly strangers, there’s nothing like having those friends that truly purchase a stay in the tiny hotel room in our hearts.
What led me to write today was an incident that happened October thirtieth at around eleven in the evening want to say. I was out with my father on a business venture and I receive this message on my phone sent by a close friend of mine saying that she was around marijuana and that it was altering her state of being. I instantly panicked. The mere thought of this person smoking sent this gut-wrenching feeling to the pit of my stomach.
I consider tobacco, marijuana, cocaine, heroine, “shrooms”, “noz” and such to be the worst there are out there. While I consider alcohol to be equally negative, the former are things that rank higher in my list of negativity. To be cliche for a moment, I’ve seen far too many people I know stroll down the road of intoxication and inebriation and the results were all but favorable. While many people might say that it’s my lack of accessibility to these things that contributes to my aversion to them, I honestly could get my hands on any of the aforementioned things were I to feel inclined to do so. It’s the simple fact that I’m not stupid enough to fall into that trap and follow the rest of the world. I’m the only “clean” person at my workplace (defining clean as no drugs or alcohol) and that scares me. While I’m not calling them bad people, since many have got personalities of gold, I just find it sad that I’m the only one who doesn’t have a fascination or attraction to intoxication. I ramble. I digress.
I attempted to contact them and received no reply when I questioned them about it which made me literally shake with concern. I couldn’t fathom the thought of them going down that path. I have a deep love for them, as the close friend that they are, and it broke my heart into ten thousand pieces to think that that could be them.
Through panic-stricken attempts at communication and nervous paces left and right in the room I was in I finally received a reply and came to find that I had jumped to an inaccurate assumption about the events that took place. A grave misunderstanding. They were not partaking in any such activity but were around people who were. I felt as if that hand that was twisting my stomach into various knots had finally untied them and let it be. I was relieved.
The point of this story? There are people close enough to hurt you. While that sounds like a negative statement with negative implications, it’s not… not exactly anyways. That’s how I know if someone means the world to me. I treasure those friends like I do my own family. Treasure those around you that mean more than just a glance to you. Take care of them, care for them when they need you and most importantly, return the friendship as it’s given to you. Money may make the world go round but love keeps the world intact. While I’m not arguing the importance of one over the other since both are imperative to felicity (for any rebukes: try living in poverty and being content with life), it seems that love is the lesser concern we have for things. Friends. They’re the glue that have held me together through my lowest, and I’ve scraped the bottom before.
I won’t let you fall into anything that may hurt you. I want to see you shine like you should, not tainting your glow like many others do. Shine, diamond, shine.
A bird’s begun singing outside my window as I finish this. This bird will fly away to some unknown destination. I’ll never let anything clip my dear loved one’s wings, especially something as stupid as intoxication. Take care.
Posted.
(4:12pm Nov 1 2010)
Completed.
(1:30am Nov 2 2010)
