Friendship

Friendship is a very peculiar thing

I can't remember the last time I wrote about it, it must've been a long time. My, time flies. Or was it recently? I can't remember. It's too late at night.

Lately this month I've come to realize

Friendship is something like uno stacko.

At first, when you meet a friend, and friendship begins, it's like the uno stacko game begins.

Each time you hurt a friend, accidentally or intentionally, you take a block out of the uno stacko, and you place it on top.

Again, you hurt someone, again you take a block out and put it on top.

Each time you put it on top, you return the block, and the friendship continues.

Each time, again and again, you keep building it higher, higher and higher

Until one point, when you take out the block, it falls. Apart.

Thinking back. I honestly can say, even though sometimes you look back and see that you really treat your friends so well all the time,

Just one wrong phrase, one mistake could cause it to crash and fall like the uno stacko.

Yes. I can say that I really treat my friends as best as I can. But I also understand that no matter how well I treat the uno stacko, one day it will fall, after all we all make mistakes.

When it falls apart like that, you can either leave it there, or build it up again.

Leaving it there in crumbles means the friendship comes to an end.

Building it up again from scratch means you want to save the friendship. You want to make it stronger. And you're willing to start all over if that means it's what it takes.

You start building, one block after another. Each time being good to your friend. Building, building, building, and crash.

There we go again. And then we start building and building and building. And crash.

But wait. Each time it crashes, we get more blocks. Now we can build it higher.

It crashes again. Now we can build it even higher.

Friendship is a lot like that. Every time you do something wrong, you crash your friendship. But once you restore it, it becomes strengthened. And the process repeats.

Most people view those crashes as a bad thing. In actual fact, it serves to strengthen the friendship only if you know how to see it as a good thing instead of a bad thing.

Most people do their best to avoid those crashes. But hey, if you never fight and never disagree what friendship is there?

I just crashed twice this month, but I will start to build them both up again. Definitely. Failure is never final.

Each of those blocks are precious. I feel that deep down, I have done my best to treat them well as friends. And regardless of whether it is true or not, I shall continue to build. I may not be able to control how others think, but I am able to control me. So I continue to build.

I can stop and think about how bad the crash was. Or I can just build on.

I can look at how many blocks or good deeds I have done. Or I can just build on.

I can leave the blocks crashed and not build them again and just look at it forever. Or I can just build on.

1 bad deed is enough to make you bad , even though you did 100 good deeds previously. That's why it's hard to be good. But that is also why being good is a greater challenge, the tougher part, and the harder road always reaps more experience and teaches so much more about life itself.

In both times I didn't actually mean to be bad. I was just being myself. I never intended to hurt them. But in fact I did. Somehow. Such is friendship. Such a fragile thing.

For now, that is. After a few times, no longer will it be a fragile thing. First, it was plastic blocks. Easily blown by even the winds. Then it became wood, even stronger than before.

Then finally it became steel.

But becoming steel was not enough.

Each time that steel is piled atop one another, it is melded together.

So every good deed stays. in tact. And after a while, it may no longer fall. And even if it does fall, it only continues to become stronger. As long as I am willing to start from scratch.

Funny, how life revolves around itself, how uno stacko can be related to friendship, how food can describe life, how your personality personifies itself through everything you do.

Friends. Even if some of them will only be close to me for a few years, I will make those years as memorable as possible. Then even if I see them many years later, I will smile and reminiscence the old times over a cup of hot coffee with them :)

So, that's the man I want to be. What about yourself?

Do you continue to build?