Friendly Presence

        I know I’ve helped my friends out a lot. I feel like people should be expected to act kindly, so most of the time, I’ll do something nice for my friends, and forget about it. That’s why it’s kind of hard for me to come up with material for this topic, I just don’t remember a lot of the good things I do. (Or maybe I don’t actually do anything at all). However, while writing this, I remembered a prime example where I had repeatedly helped someone, and they later thanked me for it.

       I have a very close friend. Well, she’s close now, but it wasn’t always that way. At first, she was simply an acquaintance, and she hung around the people I would hang around. But as time progressed, we got to know each other more. One day, she went to one of my friend’s houses. There was quite a bit of people there, and there was a ton of commotion. At this point I had known that this friend of mine didn’t like large crowds, and would get pretty anxious in these sort of social settings. I simply saw the look on her face, and I could tell she was in distress. It was the first time she had ever been here, and I could tell she was uncomfortable. I just sat next to her and started up casual conversation. I could immediately tell that she started to feel better after talking to me. I just tried to keep her mind off of all of the commotion, and instead focus on an easygoing conversation. It worked, and she felt a lot better afterwards. I’ve known this person for quite a while now, and I’ve done similar things again. I always notice whenever something is wrong with her, and I try my best to make her feel better. I know that if I was feeling like she did, I’d want someone to notice, and to help.

       Some time later, she personally thanked me for being perceptive, but not intrusive, about her problems. She told me that whenever, I tried to help, it made her feel a lot better. This person then told me how much she valued my friendship, how I can always lift her mood when she was feeling down. It really made me feel good to know that someone valued my presence in their lives like that. These are the times that I helped her, but she has also helped me a lot, too. Whenever I’m feeling down and need someone to talk to, she is always there, and I always feel better after talking to her. I guess that’s how we help each other, by making each other feel better just by talking, or being around each other. I know I’ve helped other people, and had others help me, but whenever I read that question, this was the first thing that came to my mind. I’d say it’s a pretty decent example.