Day 70 - AAA of Friendship

I was watching an old episode of 'Boston Legal' the other day on TV and they had a very interesting case of two brothers. On brother had already been convicted of murdering his wife but the other brother was being tried for helping him hide the body and dispose off the evidence. Prosecution obviously argued that abetting a crime is a crime and hence the same punishment should be meted out to the other brother as well. Defence, on the other hand, argued that the brother was doing what any brother would do - help family.

Convoluted, isn't it? Of course the case was that the murderer-brother was being bullied by his wife and the other brother had been telling him for years to leave his wife and start fresh. When the brother finally decided and decided to tell his wife he chickened out at the last moment, then told her, she scoffed and laughed at his face and in anger he hit her and killed her. Then he did what he thought of first - call his brother.

The defence's argument got me thinking. We all know the saying 'Blood is thicker than water' and one would usually stand by family at all times. But would you stand by your friends? Maybe not in the earlier example kind but would you stand by in difficult situations? Let's simplify this......do you have at least one friend for whom you would do AAA? :) No...not alcoholics anonymous!

Do you have at least one friend for whom you would do ANYTHING ANYTIME ANYWHERE?

If that one friend asked you for a favour that involves you going out of your way, would you do it? Would you do it at any time?

I think its important that we have one friend like that - one that you would AAA for and hopefully one that does the same for you. Its like a fallback mechanism that one would have in life. The issue is would you have the ability to do it selflessly? Without expecting anything in return? Without assuming that the friend would feel the same way for you? That's the key! And that's the most difficult thing. As we grow older we are used to thinking for ourselves first and looking at everything in a manner that would benefit us. Why should I do this favour for him/her even if the person is a good friend. Would the person do the same for me? What benefit would I get for this? How would it help me?

My suggestion is to identify one friend who is closest to your heart and try the AAA with him/her. It will teach you to get in touch with your child again and believe me it will bring you great happiness.

I have one friend who is on my AAA list while I may not be on hers. But it brings me great happiness and I know she can count on me for Anything Anytime Anyplace!