International Karate Kun:
Seek perfection of character
Be faithful
Endeavor
Respect others
Refrain from violent behavior.
Friends can easily become fiends. The main difference is that you take out the R. Respect. You take the respect out of a friendship and it turns really nasty really fast. Do you have respect?
I by no means am a goddess of harmony and respect. That is not exactly my strength. but it makes a big difference.
For instance, if you lose respect for your friend's standards, you don't look at them the same. If the standards seem too high, you may think they are "holier than thou". But, if you see them too low, you think that they are mangy, unwieldy and perhaps even foolish. Then you become the one that is "holier than thou". They may think that you are a prude, that you are jealous, or any manner of things that may not be true!
It is here that I must point out the difference between respecting someone and supporting them. I feel like these words are too often interchanged when they are sole entities. Respect is understanding someones decisions. It is linked to Love. Supporting is when someone is doing something and you are happy for them and encouraging them.
This is why I can be friends and still love people who are of different religions, sexualities, and political views than me. For instance, I have a homosexual relative. We still love him, we certainly still like to see him, he and his partner are both very nice. I respect that that is their decision. This is what they chose, and I'm not going to try to change that. However, I'm not in full support of them. I believe in marriage between man and wife. I don't agree with what they do, but I'm not going to shun them or hate them for it. I figure that if a relationship of any kind is with someone who has different views or standards, as long as you are able to love them without compromising your values, than you can have a working bond with that person. I must advise you, though, that if you are in a friendship and that person is tearing you down, and you want to build them up but it's backfiring, try to distance yourself. It's not worth your sanity to try and help someone who doesn't want it. Trust me, I know.
So keep your friends friends and not fiends. I hope this at least makes some sense or something. I don't know how to end blog posts ever.
Signing out,
The Secret Keeper.
