Recently, one of my best friends, whom I’ve shared just
about everything with since the first day of kindergarten, spent the
weekend with me. Since I moved to a new town several years ago, we’ve
both always looked forward to the few times a year when we can see each
other.
Over the weekend, we spent hours and hours, staying up
late into the night, talking about the people she was hanging around
with. She started telling me stories about her new boyfriend, about
how he experimented with drugs and was into other self-destructive behavior.
I was blown away! She told me how she had been lying to her parents
about where she was going and even sneaking out to see this guy because
they didn’t want her around him. No matter how hard I tried to tell
her that she deserved better, she didn’t believe me. Her self-respect
seemed to have disappeared.
I tried to convince her that she was ruining her future
and heading for big trouble. I felt like I was getting nowhere. I just
couldn’t believe that she really thought it was acceptable to hang with
a bunch of losers, especially her boyfriend.
By the time she left, I was really worried about her
and exhausted by the experience. It had been so frustrating, I had come
close to telling her several times during the weekend that maybe we
had just grown too far apart to continue our friendship - but I didn’t.
I put the power of friendship to the ultimate test. We’d been friends
for far too long. I had to hope that she valued me enough to know that
I was trying to save her from hurting herself. I wanted to believe that
our friendship could conquer anything.
A few days later, she called to say that she had thought
long and hard about our conversation, and then she told me that she
had broken up with her boyfriend. I just listened on the other end of
the phone with tears of joy running down my face. It was one of the
truly rewarding moments in my life. Never had I been so proud of a friend.
by Danielle Fishel
from Chicken Soup for the Kid’s Soul
Copyright 1998 by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Patty Hansen and
Irene Dunlap
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