Difficult times come to all of us, whether you’ve lost a family member or a friend, experienced a car wreck, lost a job that you were passionate about, or received a bad grade on a test you studied really hard for. When those times come, where can we turn?
The best people we can turn to in times of trouble, when our family can’t be there, isn’t necessarily a counselor, a Resident Assistant, or another member of faculty or staff. Sometimes the best people we can turn to during dark times are right down the hall, across campus, or a phone call or text away.
When you can’t manage to get out of bed, your friends are the ones that incessantly text you and come knock on your door, make you get out of bed, and push you out the door. Your friends will call and tell you to meet them somewhere because they want to see you and make sure you’re okay. It’s your friends who will listen to you rant about what happened and sympathize with your pain. It’s your friends who will do whatever they can to help ease the burden. It’s your friends who will speak up to defend your honor when others are trying so hard to speak poorly of you. It is your friends who help you see the bright side in the middle of the dark night.
Urban Dictionary allows people like you and me to define words based on our experiences with those words. According to the site, a “friend” is someone with whom you share trust, love, respect, honesty, and loyalty.
Henri Nouwen, a Catholic Priest and author, once said, “The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing…not healing, not curing…that is a friend who cares.”
During tough times, call on your friends. Share with us in the comments below a time when your friends swooped in and saved your day.