Fame Pro Veritatis – Choose Thee Well Thy Friends

One thing that has always boggled my mind is the great lengths which some people will go to keep up a certain status of what they refer to as popularity. I am forever amazed at how some people feel that it is all so important to have a myriad of “friends.” It is almost as if having a large number of friends is some sort of security blanket for them.

If the past 55 years on this journey through life has taught me nothing else, it has taught me the valuable life lesson that not all people who say they are your  “friend” have your best interest at heart. Yes, there are those who are true and loyal friends to the end, but the proverbial flip side of that coin is that there are also some people who are only a “friend” so long as being a friend is of some benefit to them.

There are some who work under the guise of friendship because of the associations that we may have with certain people, and they feel that by being a “friend” to us will somehow place them in the spotlight of “knowing” or being “good friends” with those same people. And then there are those whom I refer to as the leeches in life. They are only clung to us so long as we do whatever it is that they want, when they want, regardless of how inconvenient it is for us. When we no longer play the role of being their underdog, they fall off and go in search of a new victim to suck the life blood from.

We need to use wisdom, discernment, and sound judgment in choosing our sphere of friends. We must also realize that when choosing friends, quality is far more important than quantity. It is far better being surrounded by a small pond of devoted, loyal, true friends, than being overwhelmed by an ocean of supposed friends.

Elige quod bonum tibi dilectis – – -> Elija te vaya bien a tus amigos – – -> CHOOSE THEE WELL THY FRIENDS!

Nuggets of Wisdom – Wednesday, 10 February 2016

The Futility of Retaliation

We need to use extreme caution in wanting to immediately retaliate against someone whom we feel has committed a wrong against us. Although we may feel that we are punishing or hurting that person in some way through our retaliation, we must take a step back and realize that a majority of the time we also cause hurt to ourselves.

We must come to the realization that retaliation does not necessarily bring about resolution, but rather, oftentimes it affords the one whom we are retaliating against the opportunity to counter attack. We must also realize that there are people in this world who do not care if they have hurt us, and so planning our attack against them for what they have done, or what we perceive they have done, can prove at best to be a futile effort.

Let us remember that battles have never been won by continuing to bombard the shores of the “enemy”, but at some point in a time, a ceasefire order must be issued, and a resolution of peace agreed upon.

The Moral of the Story

At times in this life each of us will come in contact with people who will commit wrongs against us. Although it may be a painful experience for us, it becomes even more painful if we never let the wound heal, but allow it to continue to fester by continually bringing to the forefront the wrong that was committed.

A major part of the healing process is learning to forgive those who trespass against us. It eventually proves futile to want to belabor the discussion of how or why the wrong may have been committed, for in the end, people grow weary of hearing our tales of woe and will become indifferent about the matter. If we continue to focus on the wrong against us, and never learn to forgive and let go, we become self incarcerated prisoners locked in a prison cell built by our own devices.

~ Keith Lionel Brown © 2016