Hind Sight

"You can tell the true character of someone by the way they treat a person who can do absolutely nothing for them.."

This quote prompted this post. I've had a fairly eventful week, with an unfortunate incident. One that unfortunately showed the true character of someone that I followed behind for nearly a year and a half, and up until that incident, had some respect for. Laziness is a terrible thing, as is the attitude that you're above certain things, despite whatever the task may be. Another unfortunate thing is treating a person a certain way, only because they stand to potentially gain something from that person. What a terrible way to be. But, if nothing else, this whole incident has taught me to take no one for granted, and to try to do more for others that not only may need it, but who appreciate it.

As I reflect back on the last few months, I've spent several looking back a little too often, pondering what I could have done different to change the outcome of some situations. But that's not important. What's important is to keep up with the people who are still there, despite what's happened along the way, and who can accept the fact that things just happen as a result of difference of opinion or that maybe... just maybe... they knew you had good intentions all along. The people that matter are the people that recognize the person that you are and that intentions were honorable. And I have plenty of those people in my life and I hope to not look back and wish I had done more, because this was the year that I attempted to really put effort in, in several areas of my life, only to be disappointed that it played out so differently in real life than in my mind.

But, on a more positive note, I feel like I have done more this year for those that appreciate it and deserve it. Maybe "deserve" isn't the best word here because we're talking about friendship.. and everyone deserves friendship. But grudges are for teenagers who don't realize the true value in a friend, and don't yet realize that friends are more than shopping buddies, or someone who wears the same kind of clothes as you, or shares all of your classes. Clearly, I'm not teenager because I'm 25 years old. But I do realize I have several friends that I know I could count on regardless, and of course - the same goes for them. I realize that having friends where you're worried about how they perceive your actions all the time, isn't a friendship worth having. I'm confident that if any of my friends, past or present, reached out to me that I would be there if they needed me. But I'm sad to say that I don't feel like I could do the same, not with all of them at least. But, as Bill Cosby says:

"I don't know the key to success, but I know the key to failure is trying to please everyone.."