A True Friend

An ordinary friend has never seen you cry.

A true friend has had a wet shoulder from your tears.

An ordinary friend does not know your parents' first

names.

A true friend probably has their phone number written

down as well.

An ordinary friend brings a bottle of wine to your

party.

A true friend shows up early to help you prepare...

and stays late to help clean up.

An ordinary friend gets upset when you call late.

A true friend asks why you weren't able to call

earlier.

An ordinary friend likes to listen to your problems.

A true friend likes to help you solve them.

An ordinary friend behaves like a guest and waits to

be served when he or she visits.

A true friend goes to the fridge and serves himself.

An ordinary friend thinks your friendship is over

after a quarrel.

A true friend knows that friendships get stronger

after a quarrel.

An ordinary friend always expects you to be there to

help out.

A true friend is always there to help you out.

A true friend?

Someone who sticks with you when everyone else

abandons you.

.......................................................

"A friend is someone I can be sincere with, someone I
can think out loud to." Ralph Waldo Emerson

.......................................................

   While walking along a beach at dawn an old man saw

a boy picking starfish up off the sand and throwing

them back into the sea. He caught up to the boy and

asked him what he was doing.

   The boy replied that the starfish would die if left

exposed on the sand after sunrise.

   "But this beach goes on for miles," the old man

said. "There must be thousands of starfish stranded on

the sand. What difference will it make to save just a

few?"

   The boy looked at the starfish he was holding in

his hand, then threw it onto the surf.

   "Well, for THAT starfish it makes a big

difference!"

(Minnesota Literacy Council)