The Qualities of a good friend

Sometimes we think we will be fine by ourselves because a dream is a wish that we make all alone. It is easy to feel like we do not need help from nobody but it is harder to walk on our own. Soon we change inside and also outside when we realize that the world come to life and everything’s bright from beginning to end when we have a friend by our sides. That helps us to find the beauty we are when we open our heart and believe in the gift of a friend. But how do we want our friends to be and what are the qualities we expect from a good friend.

There are many qualities we would love to see from a good friend. In my opinion, we can group all these qualities in three different categories. First, a good friend is honest and humble. It is the first things I look at in a friendship. It is the foundation, the base of all friendship or any kind of relation in this world. When we are humble and honest with our friends, there is a connection between us. And we will never get in trouble about how to trust each others. I always try to be honest as much as I can with my friends, but when I do not feel their honesty or their trust in return, I immediately know that we are not good for each others. And that create a small distance between us. Our conversations become a bit about general things and we finish by just saying “hello” to each others. So for me, it is important to be honest and humble in a friendship.

The second quality of a good friend is to help us to fix our mistakes. A good friend helps us to improve and save us from doing the same mistakes over and over. He is not there to judge or criticize us because we had a bad behavior about something or we reacted very badly in a situation. As Madonna said: “Nobody is perfect” so he or she is there to support us by giving us advices. When our hope crashes down shattering to the ground and we feel alone, he might be there to give us hands and give us energy and strength we need. When we do not know which way to go and there are no signals to lead us home, he might be able to tell us that we are not alone and take us to the right way.

The last quality I always expect from a friend is his presence and his time for me. A good friend might be there physically, mentally and emotionally (sometimes financially but that is not very important) for me in bad and good moment. A famous French expression say: “We know who our friends is when we are enduring a bad moment”. And that is true because some “friends” try to be our best friend just when we have money, we can take them to dinner, travel or party and buy their drink. A good friend is not like that. He is someone who is present in our life and knows when we are lost and we are scared, someone who knows there are through the highs and the lows and despite that he can stand up for us and get our back. A good friend is that person we can count on, someone who cares for us. For instance, a good friend assists us when we lost a parent, we lost our job or we are in the emergency room. That is what we can call a good friend.

In conclusion, it is hard to believe in friend nowadays, but when we look around us, we can still find some humble persons who have good qualities and share our life with. When someone cares, try to be present in your life and also is honest with us, do not screw it up but return that favor. We may have a lot of friends, but not all of them are good friends.

yeremiah@aol.com
Yeremiah Hardt

Aspects of the Heart

Confidence and Self-Esteem were best friends. They went everywhere together. If Confidence bought a new dress, Self-Esteem bought one just like it. They were very close.



One day a new kid came to their school. His name was Peer Pressure. He had a friend called Hateful Words. They decided to give Confidence a hard time.



They constantly teased her. They forced her to do terrible things. It was so terrible that Confidence lost Self-Esteem. When Self-Esteem wanted to start some classes, Confidence said they wouldn't be any good.



Then one day, Peer Pressure introduced Confidence to Doubt. He wanted to ruin Confidence, but Peer Pressure said he couldn't yet. Self Esteem couldn't understand what was wrong with Confidence. Confidence now hung around with Depression, Low Self-Esteem, and Overeating.



These girls were friends of Peer Pressure. Self-Esteem no longer had any friends. She no longer felt good about herself. She went to see her Imaam. Imaam Good Words told her how to talk to Confidence. He introduced her to his daughter, Encouragement.



Encouragement and Self-Esteem went to find Confidence. Self Esteem hoped she wasn't too late. The girls found Confidence in a stupor. She was no longer a vibrant, happy young girl. There were dark circles under her eyes. She had gained so much weight from eating that she couldn't move.



Encouragement gasped and Self-Esteem cried. She begged Encouragement to do something.



Encouragement began to hug Confidence. She kissed her and loved her. She told her that she was a beautiful young lady who had a lot going for her.



Encouragement held Confidence so tightly that Self-Esteem thought she would smother her. Confidence began to cry. As she cried, she seemed to lose weight. Then a bright light suddenly glowed from Confidence and she began to smile.



Peer Pressure and his friends didn't like what Encouragement was doing and tried to attack her. They hit at her and pulled at her, but they couldn't pull her away from Confidence. Then Confidence began to speak.



"Get away from me, Peer Pressure. Take your friends and go. You no longer have any power over me." Confidence was now a glowing light. She and her friends made sure that Peer Pressure and his gang never bothered anyone in their town again.



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If you feel that Encouragement is not your friend, then try to find Encouragement in yourself. Self-Esteem and Confidence will follow.

yeremiah@aol.com
Yeremiah Hardt