Friends

I LOVE THIS PICTURE!

Saturday morning, I read a Twitter Post that said, “Wish I had a Harry and a Ron like Hermione does.  Good, close friends are virtually nonexistent in my life.”  Most of you know that the Twitter post is referring to the Harry Potter movie, Deathly Hollows Part I which came out on DVD and Blu-Ray on Friday.  As I finished watching the movie Sunday morning, I kept hearing the Twitter post replaying in my mind.  Friendship and loyalty is a central theme throughout the movie. At certain times in my life, I felt like good, close friends were virtually nonexistent in my life too.

We’ve all been in that dark place, the abyss. We’ve all had, what we thought were good, close friends turn their backs on us or possibly even betray us.  At other times, we’ve had friends pop up when we least expect it and help us pull out of that dark place.  Often times, those close friends are people who are right in front us and are usually the people who love us the most.  Why do we sometimes avoid the people who care about us the most?  I believe it is a fear of what that person might think of us.  The unfortunate fear of disappointment.

The fear of disappointing a love one is one of the hardest things for me to personally overcome.  At times, it is even difficult for me to open up or express my feelings to the one person that I love the most: my wife.  For example, my wife and I were working in the yard this weekend.  I didn’t like something she was doing and I was about to speak but suddenly held back.  My wife sensed this and said bluntly, “Say it!”  Ordinarily, I would’ve said, “Ah, it’s nothing,” and I would’ve let it boil inside of me.  This time, I said it, we discussed it, and moved on.  I felt better, she felt better, and we ultimately finished the project in the yard without killing each other first.  Why is this so hard for me and others like me? The same scenario happened in the Harry Potter movie.  Ron was getting very upset with Harry and Hermione but would not speak.  Harry said to Ron, “If you’ve got something to say, say it!”  Translation:  we are all best friends, we can work it out.

One of my all-time favorite movies is Toy Story.  The central theme of the movie series is, “You’ve Got a Friend in Me.” This song is sung repeatedly and here are some of the lyrics:

You’ve got troubles, well I’ve got ’em too
There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you
We stick together and we see it through
You’ve got a friend in me

Some other folks might be
A little bit smarter than I am
Bigger and stronger too
Maybe
But none of them will ever love you the way I do
It’s me and you
And as the years go by
Boys, our friendship will never die
You’re gonna see
It’s our destiny
You’ve got a friend in me

Here is my point.  If you have a spouse, parent, sibling, child, aunt, uncle, cousin, then you probably have a friend or someone who cares about you.  Someone to talk it out.  Someone that will listen…….your Harry and Ron are out there!