Mistakes

When we were little, we often called people our best friends forever, or our best friends for life. Then, either summer would come, and you'd no longer see each other, or you'd get in a fight and stop being friends. You'd learn nothing from these arguments, and soon thereafter, decide on a new best friend forever. So, that "forever" didn't hold through. Why? Because when you're little, and you make a mistake, you don't learn what you could do better next time. You don't learn any lessons. You just know that you did something wrong and that there's a consequence to that. Or, at least that's how I was when I was little. Then, as you get older, you still don't really see the lessons in things. You start to see them when you're much older, and you think back on that experience. When you're little, without too many problems, a friend is someone to entertain you. To make you laugh, and smile, and to play games with. That's basically what a friend is when you're little. Only until you get older do you realize that friends have more purposes than that. And that the "ideal" friend can meet all, or most, of those purposes, without any faults or mistakes. Well, that's just plain stupid.

You're human. You make mistakes. Your friends (I'm assuming) are human. They make mistakes. Every human being makes mistakes. But mistakes are how we learn and grow. There will never be someone that you meet that has NEVER made a mistake. You will never have a friend that won't do you wrong, at least once. Why? Because we're human. Once you get that through your mind is when you can REALLY be friends with someone. So, learn that fact, get off your high horse, lower your expectations, and then go find a friend. Everyone makes mistakes.

As you get older, when you call someone your "best friend forever", that forever will suddenly have more meaning. When you were little, you thought that "forever" was set in stone, and you didn't have to do anything to support it. It'd just happen, and when you're old and about to die, you'd still be friends. Without effort. Well that, again, is STUPID. Yes, you can be best friends forever. You can be friends until the moment that you die. But not without work. Yes, friendship is work. It's not all sunshine and daisies. Everything is not going to fall into place. You have to MAKE it go into place. A lot of that work is being a good friend. That means listening, not telling their secrets, cheering them up, encouraging them, being nice, etc. But another large quantity of that work is forgiving them.

Like I said before, EVERYONE makes mistakes. So, if you're looking for someone who will never do anything wrong, then too bad for you. Because you're not gonna find that person. Mistakes are... well, MISTAKES. The person that made that mistake didn't mean for it to happen. They didn't do it on purpose. Or maybe, they did it on purpose, but they didn't mean for it to blow up out of proportion. Mistakes are just accidents. Something that's thrown at us randomly, and that you have to get past. You have to learn from your mistakes, that's why they're there. To learn. So when someone does you wrong, just forgive them. It was an accident. It was a mistake. They didn't mean it. It's not their fault. Everyone does it. You do too. So, don't let it get to the point of no return. FORGIVE THEM.


If something so small as a mistake made you stop being friends, were you ever really best friends in the first place?