Friday, July 20, 2007 Friends connection By Henrylito D. Tacio Regarding Henry
TWO men were traveling together, when a ferocious bear suddenly met them on their path. One of them climbed up quickly into a tree and concealed himself in the branches. The other, seeing that he must be attacked, fell flat on the ground. When the bear came up and felt him with his snout, and smelt him all over, he held his breath, and feigned the appearance of death as much as he could.
The bear soon left him, for it is said the animal won't touch a dead body. When he was quite gone, the other man descended from the tree, and jocularly inquired of his friend what it was the bear had whispered in his ear.
"He gave me this advice," his companion replied. "Never travel with a friend who deserts you at the approach of danger."
As I read the story above, I was reminded of the song, 'You've Got a Friend" by Carole King. If you have forgotten it, here's the first stanza of the song:
"When you're down and troubled and you need some loving care and nothing, nothing is going right. Close your eyes and think of me and soon I will be there to brighten up even your darkest night."
The third stanza goes something like this: "If the sky above you grows dark and full of clouds, and that old north wind begins to blow. Keep your head together and call my name out loud, soon you'll hear me knocking at your door."
The chorus says: "You just call out my name, and you know wherever I am I'll come running to see you again."
What an assurance! "There is nothing on this earth to be more prized than true friendship," said Saint Thomas Aquinas.
Nobel Peace prize winner Woodrow Wilson added, "Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together."
Each person in this world needs a friend or two. The Bible tells us so: "Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe unto him that is alone when he falls; for he hath not another to help him up"
(Ecclesiastes 4:9-10).
The 1828 Noah Webster dictionary defines a friend as "one who is attached to another by affection; one who entertains for another sentiment of esteem, respect and affection, which lead him to desire his company and to seek to promote his happiness and prosperity."
"A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere," said Ralph Waldo Emerson. "One loyal friend is worth ten thousand relatives," added Euripides.
Thomas Fuller agreed: "A good friend is my nearest relation." Robert Louis Stevenson subscribed: "A friend is a present you give yourself."
According to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, friends are one of the reasons why life is worth living for: "The world is so empty if one thinks only of mountains, rivers, and cities; but to know someone here and there who think and feels with us, and who, though distant, is close to us in spirit, this makes the earth an inhabited garden."
One of the most quoted statements I have in my notes is this: "A friend is one to whom one may pour out all the contents of one's heart, chaff and grain together, knowing that the gentlest of hands will take and sift it, keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness, blow the rest away." That's what a real friend is all about.
Those who have friends are twice blessed, indeed. Zig Ziglar, in his book, 'Something to Smile About,' wrote: "I agree with the statement that if, at the end of life, we can count at least two people who are true friends willing to do anything for us at the drop of a hat, who stand ready when we are hurting or need help, we are indeed fortunate. We can talk with friends about every facet of life -- our joys, trials, triumphs, tragedies, hopes, wants, and needs."
