Friendship is a two way street if it is a healthy one. Each party is willing to share of their time and good and bad events with the other. There is support, understanding and sincere caring about the other. As we get older, there is a greater need to know we are regarded as special.
How often, we think we have a special person in our life, who is truly our best friend and find out after sharing so much of ourself, that it was all one sided. It leads to disillusionment and a broken heart.
Is it because we want so much to know we are loved, even though we are no longer young? Do we want reassurance that we are still important to somebody outside of our own circle? I think that whether we are young or old, we all seek a real friend who cares enough to be honest with us as we flounder through lifes ups and downs. Somebody who reaffirms our own worth.
There are alot of lonely people in the world simply because they do not reach out to their neighbors. It is so easy to lock ourself into a safe, secure little haven but we do not grow. We get lost in ouselves and begin to feel isolated and left out. It happens to each of us sometime if we let it happen. People are meant to have their dreams and follow them but not to go the journey alone. We need each other because we are all visitors here on this earth for a little while. We need to open ourselves in friendship to those around us and the stranger who will someday be our friend, if we let them.
I have been there, walking on that lonely path , going nowhere fast. Like the person who is on a treadmill, running fast but going nowhere. One day, not long ago, I found laughter and friendship all around me, because I reached out and opened my life to my neighbors and coworkers. As I did that, my self esteem was nurtured and I began to realize how much we all need each other at some time or other in life and it is okay to admit it. We are not meant to live unto ourselves but to share and care. It is much more fun.
I hope you all find that two way street called friendship and move on to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It is there for those who seek it.
