Turning lemons into lemonade

I have a life-long friend in the States who treats me like I was his brother. In fact I joke that we are brothers from a different mother. Through our forty-two years friendship, through the good times and the bad, he has proven himself to be loyal friend beyond my wildest dreams.

Several years ago, I had experienced a traumatic series of events that had caused me to step back and resign from my chosen profession. 

While recovering from the setback and while searching for gainful employment, my lifelong friend intervened to become my rescue-ranger. During these months of uncertainty and loss of income, he placed the equivalent of my former salary into my account! His faithfulness and generosity were extraordinary. He helped me to meet every normal monthly commitment, without ever being left short for any mortgage or utility payment. This faithfulness demonstrated a kindness and allegiance that I shall never forget until my dying breathe. True friendship is a rare commodity, but one to cherish.

Contrastingly, did you ever feel let down or betrayed by someone you considered a friend? Being double-crossed by someone, particularly someone you have considered close, is gut wrenching to say the least. It seems some people are so caught up in the vortex of their own agendas that they wilfully do something to you or say something about you which only confirms, (when push come to shove), that they are clearly demonstrating traits of disloyalty and unfaithfulness. As the good book says “confidence in an unfaithful friend is like a toothache” – it hurts to the core.

Often unaware of narcissism and self-centredness, people can be blinded, to the fact that they often only use their close contact with you as stepping-stones to protect some sort of vested interest, make some sort of a point, or possibly attain some sort of warped power-position status. They simply perceive their priorities more important than the joy of the deep bond found in true allegiances.

 The repercussions of such fair-weathered friendships can either make us better or bitter. Just like sucking on a lemon, we need to, as my life-long American friend says, turn those "friendship lemons' into lemonade!