Friends: Honest "And"/"Or" Supportive

I'm at work...it's half past 2...and I'm sleepy. Hence this piece.

When we thought about friends, do we really know what "friends" means or how to behave like one?

Most of us think that we are good friends with someone...heck, I always thought that I'm a good friend to a lot of people and I also consider quite a few people as my good friends. That is until I tried to understand the real meaning of "friends"...and no, I'm not talking about "friendship".

Do we expect honest friends? Or do we prefer friends who are supportive? Well, I guess most would say they like a combination of both. Along the way, I realized, finding friends who are both honest and supportive is not a walk in the park..to a certain extent, it can be futile.

Let's make up an example. I've made a decision (yeah..I'm sure you're expecting the sentence to go on with "....decision to bla..bla..bla". That need not be the case. I've made a decision. Full-stop). I got 2 friends (equally close friends...just to make things simple). Despite knowing the fact that I've been wanting to make this decision, Friend A told me straight to my face that my decision wasn't a very intelligent one and he backed it up with HIS reasons. He upset me a bit (for the fact that he made me somewhat regret my decision). On the other hand, Friend B supported my decision (he also knew that I've been wanting to make this decision), pat me on the back, and said "Good for you!". Little that I know, Friend B too, doesn't really think that I made the right decision. He just wanted to be a supportive friend, but he told everybody else (except me!) that I didn't make the right decision.

Of course, this was just a made up example to get you thinking....which friend would you rather have? Friend A or Friend B?

Personally, I'd rather have Friend A as my friend. Yeah, he upsets me by being truthful to me. At least Friend A will make you re-think of your decision and you get to choose to say back to him either "You are absolutely right, I should've thought about that" or "Rubbish, you have no idea what you're talking about". Friend B on the other hand, will not make you think further. He'll just make you smile and think that you've made the best possible decision (even when you haven't!).

So to my friends whom I may have offended, my apologies....I'm just trying to be a Friend A to you.

Unfortunately for me, many of my friends are Friend B.

I think I'm refreshed now. Back to work!

Till my next piece! (Don't hold your breath!)