Making Oneself Available for Others

by: Leony Moonrose

Most of us are too busy at work. We are lucky if we could spend sometime to our friends. Usually, if we need to chill out a bit, we resort to opening social sites and check our friends, saying hello to them, do a little chit chat and then go back to our busy lives.

Everything runs smoothly. We resort to opening social sites so we could freely talk to our friends and to somehow reduce the stress. But unfortunately, there are friends who hardly understand our lifestyle. Once they see us online they started claiming our time by talking to us longer than the alloted time we set for socialization. Sad to say, we gain a lot of stress rather than reducing it because the moment we try to leave or we couldn't reply their messages,  they start saying we are ignoring them.

Part of my mind says, "who the heck are they?" to demand my presence and give false accusations about me. But then again, its a cyber world, where people have different thinking, belief and culture. I have to adjust. I have to be flexible. 

I remember one person. I met him months ago in social site.

One evening, I saw him again, we had a chat about life and technology.  I found out that he has knowledge in technology although he’s a chef. I asked him about software on Internet Protocol Address or  IP address.  He asked my skype account so he could give me the file and he could teach me how to use it.

We talked at skype that one evening. However, instead of discussing about the software he has given me, our topic was centered on his life story. I didn’t mind because I feel like he needs someone to talk to. I was there with a listening ear. He was so sad and down, all alone (with his dog) and it was a good feeling that I was able to accompany him and gave him advice. I made myself available for him that moment, listening at his sad stories.

From there on, we often talked at skype (no cam).  Days passed,  I still didn’t know on how to use the software application. I dropped the desire of learning it though. Besides I was very busy at work.

My being busy has a negative impact to this person. He started accusing me that I was ignoring him.. that I did not reply his message, that I’m not good friend of him because I have no time with him.. until it reached to the point that he accused me of something I didn’t even do. He used foul words at me and he splashed stinky stuff I couldn’t imagine he is capable of doing.  I asked myself then, what is friendship for this man and who is he to demand much of my time.

The worst is, he is not the only person who acts like this. I met many of them. Does it mean, many people do not really know what friendship is?  or they just use the word “friend” so they could take advantage of?

This scenario is so often in social sites. If you are a kind of person who aren’t used to dealing with depressed people, you certainly ended up having stress or heart attack. It’s good to be nice, but its not good to expose ourselves in solving other people’s problems and caprices. 

We are now in technology world, but it doesn’t mean that we rely ourselves on cyber people nor get affected by them. We should respect each others lifestyle and belief. We socialize yes, but we must be wise enough in choosing whom we talk to.  Abusers are everywhere and so are good people.  Ignore the abusers treasure the good ones.

Men are basically good. In fact, we all have a good heart.   

                                                    

It just depends on when we call it out to shine forth for other people. Maybe we are doing good things in a small way, such as showing support to our friends, or that we really go out to help those in need, or listening our friends problems.

Being a good friend to someone is worthwhile because we do not only help others, we also learn so much about the real world. And in doing good, we feel so satisfied and happy.  

Also we need to realize that there are many people less fortunate than us. Even at a young age they have to face a lot of heartaches from family troubles. That’s one reason why we see other people who acts differently than us. Instead of hating or hurting them, we need to understand them and pray for them.

Make yourself available for others.. even just in prayer.

Prayer does miracle :)

FACES OF FRIENDSHIP

Posted by: Leony Moonrose
Courtesy of Lavi Singh

                         

Friends?
In this kind of world we are now,

They are quite scary

They expect me to know who they are

They expect me to greet them
If I don’t, they start hitting me

They make it a guessing game

I have to correctly guess they are my friends

If not, I’ll end up into trouble again.

Friends make a lot of difference. We can see them everywhere wearing different faces. When you’re going about your day, walking down the street, getting on the subway, in shopping malls, or watching football game, we meet our casual or close friends, exchanging nods, hi’s and hello’s, shaking hands with them.

As we mingle, we see their faces.

Some have happy faces, others have blank face

Some have angry scowls, others are sad, worried souls

Some are impatient while others are peaceful and content,

..yet they are our friends in different faces.

We pass by all those faces,

 and we know that behind each face… is a story.

Yes a story.

A story that runs the gambit of all human emotions.

                                                

She was motorbiking home..

No, not in her real home but somewhere she felt at home.

In a corner of no place where she could scream out loud with no voice…

Driving her way

Feeling hurt and angry

A car coming next to her, moving slowly, keeping pace with her.

A guy in the front passenger seat rolling down his window,

claiming as her friend, asking for direction,

Telling him, the guy not seemingly listened

The car stopped.

Braked her bike.

The guy jumped out of the car, grabbed her.

The guy unlocked the trunk, throwing her in.

The trunk lid banged shut.

she screamed.

Darkness.

Who is she? She’s a friend.

Who’s the gangster? He’s also a friend.

Who needs to rescue her? Supposedly a friend.

But what happened was…

she'd been rescued by a stranger

and that stranger has become her friend.

Sometimes, we trust someone so easily. We share our secrets only to find out that the person whom we trust just make us pay back with disrespect and insult and is not quite deserving of our trust and friendship. We blindly believe that the person we consider a friend is true to us and be with us through thick and thin. Late to realize that they are just wearing their masks and play the art of pretending.

It’s not easy nowadays to find a friend. Friendship should be without any profit. Nowadays if you have good status, a lot of people try to walk with you. But if you have nothing besides good heart, they don’t really care at all.

Money talks all over. Most people need friendship for benefits. If they know that you have something, they stay with you, but when hard time comes people always show their back and run away.

Beforehand, I didn’t believe much in real friendship..

or should I say, I didn’t notice because what I’ve seen were bullying and disrespect.

I made friends only for business and social needs until one day I realized that friendship is not a one-way street.

Let us try to see the positive faces of our friends

Sometimes you get mad with friends because they stop you from doing something out of the line. They correct your mistakes instead of tolerating your vices and caprices. Well, it’s not really a bad thing. If you have good friend he should be hard on you sometimes for your own good. If your friend always tell you about you are right just to please you, then you'll never gonna learn nor improve your life and you’ll be deprived from knowing your real worth as a person.

We all need a friend who make us real human not just a show off individual.

We need someone who would correct us and make us think of what is right or wrong.

I remember in old days people trust that much. They let their friends stay their house, they work together, share every single thing. But nowadays, if you bring someone to your house, they always break that trust.  They may call you brother or sister but when they saw family member they always put bad eye on them.

It would be easier to find God (God's words) than to find a trusted person nowadays.

I firmly believe that when you are in a relationship, either family, friend or lover, you gotta have respect for that relationship. Once you call someone a friend, show your genuine self and wear a pure silver heart.

They said true friend is hard to find. If you can have at least one true friend, you are one lucky person.

                                  

     

I am lucky then. I met many friends both in real and in cyber world and few of them I considered priceless. They are not easy to find. I feel so blessed because God gave them to me. I feel so proud because whenever I need them, they’re always there, never show their back no matter what happen and no matter we get mad, at the end we’re together again.

I found a precious gem in the heart of my true friends.

A Friend I can trust with close eyes ..

A Friend who will stand by me 'till the end of time.

Building trust takes ages, yet just a second to break it.

The different faces of friendship have us believe they are so different from us, yet we come to understand that behind those different faces, we all share the same “story”.

Getting back on the story of the abducted lady mentioned above…      

She questioned the people who used to greet her with beautiful smile each time she woke up

She questioned those whom she called friends
Where are they?

She needs answer

She needs light

She needs you..

…Whom she calls-  A FRIEND.

Do you have what you call a genuine friend?

Again If you have, you are one lucky person.