I always say that friends are like money. I would rather have 4 quarters than 100 pennies. The quarters represent the friends who always have your back and who are always there for you, while the pennies are the people who say that they are your friend, but don’t really have a big concern with how you’re doing and what’s going on in your life. In other words, I would rather have a few close friends who I can count on than a bunch of “friends” who are only there for you when it’s convenient for them.
Up until high school, I never really had any close friends that I could count on, or even very many friends at all. It was a horrible feeling, especially when I had something going on in my personal life and I needed someone to confide in. Because of this, I try my hardest to be the best friend that I can be, even if I don’t know the person all that well. When one of my friends is going through a rough time, I make sure to show my support and let them know that if they need advice or just someone to vent to that they can come to me. I think that this has led me to become friends with some of the people who are the closest to me.
I met my best friend at the end of my 7th grade year and starting talking to her that summer. I remember her having some relationship issues that she was very stressed and upset about, and I was always there to comfort her and offer what I could for advice. In 8th grade, she called me in hysterics telling me that her boyfriend had cheated on her with my girlfriend (which I found out to be true), and I immediately dropped what I was doing so I could go see her and help her calm down. Now, over four and a half years later, she’s still one of my best friends who I know I can always go to whenever I need advice or someone to vent to. There have been countless times where I was having a rough day or was stressing way too much over something (usually school-related), and she always gave me advice and helped me stay calm and collected. We’ve had a few rough patches in our friendship, but we always found a way to resolve the issue.
I guess the point of this story is that everyone should be the kind of friend that they would like to have. I always needed a friend to confide in and to trust, and once I became that friend to other people, I started gaining more friends of my own. Sometimes it’s necessary to get rid of some of the pennies in order to see what you really have for quarters.
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