fciwomenswrestling.com femcompetitor.com, fcielitecompetitor.com pexels.com Andrea-Piacquadio.
April 29, 2020,
Friendships that are real, really real, are needed most when you actually need them.
Right here. Right Now.
Today. Not tomorrow.
A little garbled but right on the mark.
It is so easy to have friends when times are great.
It is when your life falls apart, especially when you primarily dug your own grave that a real friend may indeed make a point with the shovel that you used, but then throws it away, extends their hand and pulls you out of the hole.
And never brings it up again.
Never keeps throwing it up in your face.
Never keeps saying that I told you so.
It is so rare when that happens.
But it does happen.
We know of an associate who we’ll call Tabitha who shared this real life story.
Tabitha is college educated and, as we’ve previously mentioned that we were, was a part of an international organized religion. Past tense.
When she was there she had a friend that did not go to college who needed to get a new start in California. Her friend was from Georgia and at that time felt the opportunities in her Southern region were limited.
Tabitha allowed her friend to live with her rent free in a studio apartment for months and refused to accept money for bills or food. Her friend would eventually get a job in Sacramento and moved on to a better life.
She will always appreciate what Tabitha did for her.
We can tell you at least ten other real life stories where person “A” fell and their so called friends scattered.
We won’t. But we could. Truly.
During this global pandemic, demonstrating that you are a true friend is important now more than ever.
If your situation is stable, would you help a friend by doing what Tabitha was willing to do? Especially if they lost a job in an industry that may not come back?
So much of how we respond to situations like that depends upon our life philosophy and values.
Marie Dionne Warwick is an American singer, actress, television host, and former United Nations Global Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization and United States Ambassador of Health.
A six-time Grammy Award winner with a soothing golden magical voice, Ms. Warwick has sold over 85 million records worldwide.
Ms. Warwick ranks among the 40 biggest hit makers of the entire rock era (1955–1999), based on the Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles Charts. She is one of the most-charted female vocalists of all time, with 56 of her singles making the Billboard Hot 100 between 1962 and 1998, and 80 singles making all Billboard charts combined.
One her greatest hits that speaks to important life philosophies is simply titled Alfie.
Here are some of the lyrics:
“What’s it all about Alfie
Is it just for the moment we live?
What’s it all about
When you sort it out, Alfie Are we meant to take more than we give
Or are we meant to be kind?
And if, if only fools are kind, Alfie
Then I guess it is wise to be cruel
And if life belongs only to the strong, Alfie
What will you lend on an old golden rule?”
What is this life all about indeed?
Is it possible that it is a test? For each one of us? If so, is it also possible that we get tested the most when times are hard as opposed to when all is well? When major life decisions are to be made as well?
How to Make an American Quilt is a 1995 American drama film based on the 1991 novel of the same name by Whitney Otto.
Directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse, the film stars Winona Ryder, Anne Bancroft, Ellen Burstyn, Kate Nelligan and Alfre Woodard. It also marked Jared Leto’s film debut. The film received a nomination for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.
Here is the storyline.
Following a proposal of marriage from her boyfriend Sam (Dermot Mulroney), Finn (Winona Ryder) decides to visit her great aunt and grandmother to finish her thesis and think over the proposal.
At her grandmother’s house, a quilting group congregates, and she’s shocked and surprised to discover that the current quilt that they’re working on is a wedding gift for her when she gets married. The theme of the quilt is “where love resides”. As Finn is unsure whether she’s ready for marriage or whether he’s “The One“, the stories of the women in the quilting group open her eyes to the different kinds of love that exist.
We loved the thought that when a major life decision was to be made that Finn could lean upon the thoughts and lives of her female friends there as they wove this quilt both literal and symbolic at a time when Finn needed them to most do so.
The master reviewer Roger Ebert rogerebert.com surmises, “How to Make an American Quilt begins with the words, “For as long as I can remember . . .” These words, which open a good many nostalgic memoirs, invariably mean that things have gone on in the same way for years and years, but that now everything is about to change.”
During this current global crisis, for many of us, things have gone on in the same way for years and years, but now, everything is about to change.
Some things permanently.
“Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light.”…Helen Keller
Or at least transition.
During these life transitions, if we don’t have family support, friendships become critical.
As much as you need a friend, isn’t it more important to be a good friend.
Sometimes life provides us with opportunities where we thought none previously existed.
This is the time to think about our situation and that of our friends. How can we come together, weave our unique quilt that can help propel our lives in new positive directions?
This is the time to be a friend when our friends are in need. How? Life will slowly reveal what can be offered.
Once the need is revealed it just may provide us with a great opportunity to become a friend for life as our associate Tabitha found out.
In some ways, that is what life is all about, Alfie.
~ ~ ~
OPENING PHOTO fciwomenswrestling.com femcompetitor.com, fcielitecompetitor.com pexels.com Andrea-Piacquadio.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dionne_Warwick
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Make_an_American_Quilt
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/how-to-make-an-american-quilt-1995
https://fciwomenswrestling.com/
https://www.fcielitecompetitor.com/
https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/friendship-quotes
