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The Beauty of Friends

You know, I don't have a lot of friends.  I tend to make one or two really close friends and call it a day.  For the past couple of years, it's been pretty lonely for me.  I just haven't been able to make friend connections in State College.  For this reason, I always enjoy working at Interlochen because I'm generally surrounded by friends all day long.

A really bad incident happened this past weekend here at camp.  Without going into a lot of detail, Glo was threatened by a camp staffer because she was breaking a very small rule (which I had told her to break), and when she was approached by the camp staffer...and threatened....I lashed out at him.  Unfortunately, I knew him from past bad experiences, and I had a feeling he wasn't going to let sleeping dogs lie.

He didn't.  He reported both Glo and me.  And I pretty much fell apart.  I'm a rule keeper to a fault, but I do believe there are a few times when rules should be broken.  And that there should be an understanding as to why the rule was broken.  Example:  I don't run red lights...unless there is a semi barreling down behind me and is going to kill me.  And hopefully the cop won't give me the ticket from running the red light.

People at work today could tell that something was wrong, and in a moment of extreme unprofessionalism, I told them what was going on.

And you know what?  Those good people came through for me.  They completely supported what I had done.

And even better, they offered me advice.

I blame the fact that I had no parents when I was growing up, but I often don't know what to do in difficult situations.  I really don't.  I think we learn those kinds of things from our parents.  What I think is the rational, correct-minded thing usually ends up getting me in trouble.  Too, I always expect the best of people, but I've discovered that people don't give me that wiggle room.  If I'm not perfect, they're coming after me.

So in this kind of situation, a witch hunt for lack of a better term, I wanted to immediately react.  To knock the teeth out of the mouth of the man who left my daughter scared to walk around camp.  I wanted to call up and file a complaint against HIM.  I knew his actions were personal and vindictive, and I wanted him to suffer like Glo and I were suffering.

But my friends, my dear friends, talked me off of that ledge.  Talking to them allowed me to step back from the situation.  They encouraged me to wait 24 hours before I reacted.  They advised me to pray before I did anything, and to seek out God's will.  One even read the letter that I wanted to send and told me that the man's behavior was ridiculous.  And the best is that they loved me, despite how crazy I was feeling and acting.

I came home, and in a crazy turn of events, I prayed for that stupid man.  I prayed for my enemy.  And I prayed for the ability to forgive him for his abusive actions.  We talk about becoming more like the Savior.  It was one of the hardest things I've ever done.  And yet my friends told me to pray, and so I did.

And I'm still waiting that 24 hours.  We'll see what happens then....

But in the meantime, I'm awful thankful for my friends.

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