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Assignments from a High School Teacher #3
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Assignments from a High School Teacher #3 |
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kaile
since 2000-02-06
Posts 5146singapore 
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My Best Friend I guess the answer is given for some people as they will blurt out "God" without hesitation. But I have a long way to go before I can unreservedly embrace God so I shall have to source other avenues for my answer When we were little, my friends and I left a few words in one another's autograph books and unbashfully took the opportunity to declare so-and-so as our best friend. Though actually a looong list of names would usually follow under the heading of "Best Friend". Interesting how young children have the capacity to love so much. I had a girlfriend who used to pester me about why she wasn't included in my list of best friends. I would suavely irritate her by insisting that we weren't quite there yet (and be secretly pleased that she regarded us as such) I might have relished the idea of having power over someone else, like a puppet master might have. (Shame on me though) I did learn how sometimes you can't force a person to love you as you would want him to. Too naive to understand the enormity of "forever" beyond the three syllables it is compromised of, we gradually lost touch after moving on to secondary school. Since then, I have paid scant attention to the concept of best friend. Perhaps it's because I have been treated before like a toilet seat one cherishes only because he has diarrhoea and is in a foreign land. Just as you don't give animals names unless you are prepared to be emotionally attached to them, I don't give anyone such official status because I don't want to dig myself into a defenceless vulnerable position and risk getting hurt. So I guess the answer i can best come up with is me. Perhaps I am too self-involved to be able to love someone in that way. But I also think that the reason why I was so easily hurt by lost friendships is because I didn't like myself enough. A whole lot of my self-esteem was built on other people's perceptions of me, which is rather a miserable way of leading one's life as I now realise. I figure if I like myself enough to embrace my flaws and not to play down my strengths, some day I will be secure enough to take the risks and call someone my "best friend" again. Til then, it's not too bad to spend time with someone that I'm growing to like a hell lot. In fact, it's kinda cool [This message has been edited by kaile (04-09-2003 08:49 AM).] |
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SPIRIT Senior Member
since 2002-12-29
Posts 1745California Desert |
Very good write, and also rings with truths we often don't admit to until later in our lives. It is hard to love others when we don't know how to love and respect ourselves. Who better than to be your best friend than that someone you spend every day of your life with. I enjoyed this and think you well met the challenge. I be me BUT who does me be? |
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Janet Marie Member Laureate
since 2000-01-22
Posts 18554 |
Perhaps it's because I have been treated before like a toilet seat one cherishes only because he has diarrhoea and is in a foreign land.Just as you don't give animals names unless you are prepared to be emotionally attached to them, ================================= my goodness..that just reaches out and aches off the page poet kaile.. quite the impact of analogy there. whew! I figure if I like myself enough to embrace my flaws and not to play down my strengths, some day I will be secure enough to take the risks and call someone my "best friend" again. Til then, it's not too bad to spend time with someone that I'm growing to like a hell lot. In fact, it's kinda cool ========================== whole lot of wisdom in those words... youre on the right track. I think I read on Larrys thread that youve done more of these challenges already, right? I'll have to look for them as time allows.  |
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Larry C
since 2001-09-10
Posts 10286United States |
kaile, ========================================== I figure if I like myself enough to embrace my flaws and not to play down my strengths, some day I will be secure enough to take the risks and call someone my "best friend" again. =========================================== Cool. Just don't take too long or it becomes narcicism. And it is a basic Biblical tenet. Excellent write as usual. I am really enjoying your work so much. If tears could build a stairway and memories a lane, I'd walk right up to heaven and bring you home again. |
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Cpat Hair
since 2001-06-05
Posts 11793 |
well done Kaile.. the wisdom you write of here is smething it takes people years and years to understand sometimes... but liking yourself first.. learning to understand who you are and accepting it, is in some ways the only way to a true friendship. If we do not understand ourselves, how can we understand others? enjoyed this... and I would say you met the challenge well.. |
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