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Friendship

【Influence of Friends】A farmer, troubled by a flock of crows in his corn field, loaded his shotgun and crawled unseen along the fence-row, determined to get a shot at the crows. Now the farmer had a very “sociable” parrot who mad friends with everybody. Seeing the flock of crows, the parrot flew over and joined them (just being sociable, you know). The farmer saw the crows but didn’t see the parrot. He took careful aim and BANG! The farmer crawled over the fence to pick up the fallen crows, and lo, there was his parrot—badly ruffled, with a broken wing, but still alive. Tenderly, the farmer carried the parrot home, where his children met him. Seeing that their pet was injured, they tearfully asked, “What happened, papa?” Before he could answer, the parrot spoke up: “Bad company!”

【Friendship】A new homeowner’s riding lawn mower had broken down, and he had been working fruitlessly for two hours trying to get it back together. Suddenly, one of his neighbors appeared with a handful of tools. “Can I give some help?” he asked. In twenty minutes he had the mower functioning beautifully.

“Thanks a million,” the now-happy newcomer said, “And say, what do you make with such fine tools?”

“Mostly friends,” the neighbor smiled. “I’m available any time.”

【False friendship】It is easy to teat people as means to an end rather than as ends in themselves. As a gregarious man once boasted, “I have friends I haven’t even used yet.”

【False Friendship】A false friend is like your shadow. As long as there is sunshine, he sticks close by. But the minute you step in the shade, he disappears.

【True Friendship】A friend has been defined as the first person who comes in when the whole world has gone out.

【True Friendship】Value a friend who, for you, finds time on his calendar—but cherish the friend who, for you, does not even consult his calendar.

【True Friendship】”Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort, of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but to pour them all out just as they are, chaff and grain together, knowing that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then, with the breath of kindness blow the rest away.”—George Eliot