A TRIBUTE TO FRIENDSHIP

FRIENDS ARE TRULY GOD'S GIFT and I have a few tremendous ones. Where would I be without them?

Not where I am today doing the wonderful things I do. Of course, some may not think that there's anything great about how my life is lived but I often wonder might I not be worse off if it were not for my friends and the things they have done for me. Okay, maybe not worse off, but I probably will not be the same. All I am certain of is that I would be a much impoverished person, spiritually, if it weren't for friends.

A friend it was who encouraged me to act on my social conscience. That took me along a path I know I will not regret for while trying to make sense of the world I found myself, doubtless a small, insignificant speck in the mass that is humanity but not as meaningless as it could have been if it had not been for a friend.

If not for a friend I probably would not have notched up any depth to my CV let alone my being. My life is so rich in texture because a friend took me under her wings and gave me the opportunities that were hers to give and never once flinching from a fear that I might not deliver. If she did she never showed it. She never gave up on me and who then could be so blind as not to feel a deep sense of obligation. For, friends do not need to feel for one another as siblings are expected to.

Yet mine do, I think. How else can I explain the warmth of friendship at this most bitterly cold winter of my existence. Friends it is I have turned to for advice, comfort and help. They are the ones who provide sustenance, both spiritual and material, in this my hour of need.

So, to those of you who have yet to make friends, do not leave it to late. Of course, you lucky ones out there with family enough to not need friends, you are blessed. I cannot say I envy you though because I feel even better blessed for I have found 'family' among those who, if it were not for friendship, would have been mere strangers.