In Friendship

The following story was passed along to me. This was in honor of “Friendship Week”. I have heard the following story before, but it is all the more relevant and important to me at this point in my life.

I have learned a lot about Life, much through difficult situations. While I cannot control others and can only control some situations, I can control how I deal with things. I can control my behavior and how I react. This is all that I can truly control.

A friend is someone who accepts you in spite of yourself and your situation. They love you through bad times as well as good ones, staying with you. They understand who you are as a whole. Even when friends don’t totally understand, they love you enough to stand by you. You return this, because friendship is mutual. Whatever binds friends together, it becomes the heartstrings of life, the lifeline. We need to need, and we need to be needed.

   It is important to know who loves you and who you can count on. It is this that sustains you through all of the twists and turns in life. Appreciate them and let them know it. I am sure that you would agree that friends should be honoured at all times, as the loved ones that they are. So much time and energy is wasted on superficial things; more time should be spent on things that really matter, like loved ones.

As you read this story remember that while we each have that which sets us apart from others, we still have something to offer, as well. Sometimes it is visible, sometimes not. It is in the reaching out and the acceptance, that we come together…as friends.

A farmer had puppies he needed to sell. He painted a sign advertising the 20 pups. He then set about nailing it to a post at the edge of his property. As he was driving the last nail into the post, he felt a tug on his overalls. He looked down into the eyes of a little boy.

“Mister,” he said, “I want to buy one of your puppies.”

“Well,” said the farmer, as he rubbed the back of his neck, “these pups come from fine parents, and cost a good deal of money.”

The boy dropped his head for a moment. Then, reaching deep in his pocket, he pulled out a handful of change, and held it up to the farmer.

“I’ve got 39 cents. Is that enough to take a look?”, the boy asked.

“Sure.” The farmer said, and let out a whistle. “Here, Dolly!”

Out from the dog house, and down the ramp, came Dolly, followed by several little balls of fur. The boy pressed his face up against the chain-link fence, with delight. As the pups made their way to the fence, the little boy noticed something else moving inside the dog house. Slowly, another little puppy appeared, and he was noticeably smaller. Down the ramp it slid, and slowly got to its feet. Then it began to hobble toward the others, doing it’s best to catch up.

“I want that one”, the little boy said to the farmer.

The farmer then knelt down to the little boy’s side and said, “Son, you don’t want that puppy. He will never be able to run and play with you like the other puppies would.”

With that, the little boy stepped back from the fence, reached down, and pulled up his pant-leg. He revealed a steel brace that ran down both sides of his leg, attached to a specially made shoe.

Looking up at the farmer, he said, “You see, Sir, I don’t run too good, either, and he will need someone who understands.”