THOUGHTS ON: BY CHUCK MORRIS
We start early. By the time you enter school, you have probably made some friends, though they are likely better termed as playmates. Once in school, you will align yourself with others who may
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Friendship
“The only way to have a friend is to be one.”
School Plant Officials Association of B.C. Spring 2008
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
share similar likes and dislikes as yourself. Sometimes the person you identify with is someone who is as outgoing as you are, or perhaps as timid as you are. By the time we are into our adult years, we have usually developed friendships with many people. Some only lasted through our school years and others have lasted for any number of years since we’ve moved into our working lives. We all change as we age and figure out where we are going in life. If one stops and looks back, it is easy to see where those changes took place and how it affected your friendship with others. Great friends can anticipate your next move! They feel your excitement and your pain. They encourage you when you could use a little encouragement. Great friends listen to you and offer comments to help you through difficult times. When you take a good hard look at your life, it is difficult NOT to include your friends. How have they affected your decisions? How many friends do you have that you can count on when the going gets tough? How comfortable are you approaching one of your friends and asking for advice, or even asking for help? The synergy of these kinds of relationships can move mountains. Think about it. There may have been a time when you were hesitant to go ahead with a project or to make a decision that affected others, and hours were spent pondering outcomes. A brief (or in-depth) conversation with one of your friends helped you move in the correct direction to achieve a successful conclusion to the problem. This happens all the time! How do you keep the friendship alive? Sometimes in our busy lives we get caught up with the work and the long