Friends

Amongst my friends, I'm the guy people turn to when they need something. People call me for rides at 1:30 in the morning. My friends know that if they're feeling bad in the middle of the day and need someone to talk to, they can call me and I'll pick up no matter what I'm doing. If a friend is having trouble with his or her family, he or she knows that my house can be a haven.

It's not just the fact that I'm willing to help out my friends. I think part of the reason they call me is that my parents trust me. If I need to pick someone up late at night, I just need to tell my parents that I'm going out to pick someone up and they'll be ok with it. They'll tell me to be careful and might express their displeasure, but they understand that if I don't go, my friends will probably have to take a cab or public transit and they would prefer my friends be safe with me. My parents also respect our boundaries. The next time they see that friend, my parents might ask them how they've been since then or how the drive was, but they won't interrogate them. My parents trust in the fact that I know what I'm doing and that I'll do the right thing.

While helping my friends is something that I want to do, it's also something I consider my duty as a friend. My best friend's mother died two summers ago. My best friend has been my best friend since we were 3. That's close to 17 years now. We both have older brothers who are also best friends and have been for just as long. Our families are very closely connected (more on that in another post) and his family is my second family. So, when his mother died, I spent about a week at his house. I would wake up and go over and not leave until at least dinner. During that time, his extended family got to know me and who I am in his life. Toward the end of the week, some of them started thanking me, which would always give me pause. I would eventually answer that there was nowhere else I'd rather be, but in the back of my head, I was thinking, "Where else would I be?" I had never considered the idea that I had another option. It was true that there was nowhere else I'd rather be, but I thought of it as I had to be there.

I think that a lot of my thinking on this subject comes from reading comics as a kid. (I love comics and probably always will. Anyone who thinks that they're just for kids is an idiot and hasn't read the right ones.) In these stories, the heroes would risk their lives for one person. They would turn their backs to the villains who were trying to kill them to make sure no one got hurt. They would lay everything on the line because they knew that they could help and make a difference. While I took this idea to heart, I don't have superpowers. I can't fly around fifty stories in the air and someone to save the city. I can't go on patrol and stop every crime I see, but I can help my friends. I can make sure that they know I'm there for them no matter what. I can make sure that they know that I will do everything in my power to help them, make them happy and make a difference in their lives.