Choose your friends, your enemies will choose you. (Repost)

The following is a post I stumbled upon on a friends tumblr. I decided to repost it given the profound statements and impact it immediately had on me.
Leeroy’s Tumblr: http://ccourse.tumblr.com/post/633699199/choose-youre-friends-your-enemies-will-choose-you

I realize that you let a lot of people in your life over a short period of time and some are there for you and some are not. And I’m not just speaking from experience, I’ve seen it in numerous relationships my friends have had. Whether it is a “boyfriend,” “girlfriend,” “friend” or something in between, people come and go out of your life. Being a good person, many times you probably find yourself opening up to other people, especially to those you’re trying to form a relationship with. You’re honest, you’re giving, you’re trusting, you’re open. The good ones, they give it back, they’re there for you, they’re understanding and above all they’re honest. The bad ones are a little more complicated. These people many times seem like people we trust and would like to get to know but as we all know, things are not always what they seem. I believe that most people begin with good intentions when entering any type of relationship but for some people it stops being about what “we can do for each other” and becomes “what can you do for me.” You find yourself giving everything you got until you come to a point where you feel like you have given everything. It’s an empty, frustrating and exhausting feeling and all your time and effort was invested into nothing. Some people can be very selfish but not understand the effects they have on those around them while others completely understand the effects and thrive off them, these are users. These people are good at what they do and that’s persuading you into giving them what they want and for that reason alone it is extremely hard to identify these people. My dad always told me, “Just because someone is smiling in your face doesn’t mean they are your friend.” I understand that now more than ever.
I’ve found the most important thing when running into situations like this though is how you handle them. It’s easy for someone to hold a grudge against someone they felt did them wrong, believe me I know. But in the end, the best thing you can do for yourself is to let it go. I believe people were put on this Earth to effect each others lives, for better or for worse. You can drive yourself crazy living in self-pity or seeking revenge especially over people that are simply not worth it. The way I see it, what goes around comes around, they can’t keep their act up for ever and at some point they will be alone, very alone. And who knows some people may realize what they’ve done or what they’ve been missing in you, people do change. Just remember your friends are close but sometimes you’re enemies are closer.

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Wow. Just…wow. “I couldn’t have said it better myself” has never been more true.

It’s about 1:00am the day of my commencement ceremony, and I happened to stumble across Leeroy’s tumblr via twitter. In the time it took me to read his post, I feel more enlightened and optimistic in moving forward with my life and continuing on being a good person. I’m not going to lie, understanding a lot of the things I do and knowing how easy it is to manipulate situations, I’ve teetered on the brink of my own moral and ethical boundaries. The thoughts of “should I really continue being a good guy” or “should I just play the game the way it was meant to be played” has crossed my mind countless times in recent years. Sadly, after having some in-depth discussions at work, I came to realize that, the game simply HAS to be played. However, I’ve also come to the conclusion that.. well, it’s simply not “me” to play the game. And whether or not being a good guy will create hardships in my life, I’m going to continue being who I am and hope that, in the end I’ve made an impact on the lives around me, showing that people don’t have to abide by the confines of these deplorable social games.

Anyway, on the topic of friends. I’m really happy that a lot of my closest friends will be making it out to the commencement ceremony later this evening. Though I have probably never said it to any of your faces, I am truly blessed, honored, and happy to have had the opportunity to meet you people and have you be a part of my life as much as I have been a part of yours. Looking forward to seeing you all later today.
Here’s to enlightenment. Here’s to graduation. Here’s to life.

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