The Beginning

Happy New Year in February!  I really wanted my beloved nephew, a brilliant Wordsmith, to write my first blog on this topic, but he’s too busy.  So here I go, and I hope we all get to hear from him soon.

The first line of Auld Lang Syne asks, “Should auld acquaintance be forgot  and never brought to mind?”

From High School, and way beyond, friends will come and go, as will boyfriends and girlfriends.  Most of the time, it’s extremely painful when the relationship ends, and in an effort to ease the trauma, sometimes, we chase after a relationship that just isn’t healthy for us anymore.  Don’t do that.  What’s a better response when the end comes?  You have two options.  

Option 1 – The good option – try to talk it out.  I know, I know, if you could talk it out, you wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place.  However, one of two things can happen here.  Perhaps it’s a simple misunderstanding, and proper communication will solve the problem, enabling you both to remain in the relationship.  If this works, the friendship/relationship will grow stronger over time.  

Should the offending party refuse to speak with you, there is something wrong with them, not you.  They were never really your friend.  This hurts, and is beyond our understanding.  We often say, “But just yesterday you told me you loved me.”  Again, the pain is real, but you’ve just been saved from another minute of a friendship based upon a lie.

Option 2 – The bad option is, tell all your friends how horrible the offending individual is and ruin their reputation in social media, so that they will hurt as bad as you do.  If you have a good soul, and I’m going to assume you do because you’re reading this, you will hurt yourself more than the offending party in the long run.  Seeing how you chose to behave here, good souled people will either come your way, or not trust you to be their friend.  It’s a cliche, but oh so true – “Take the high road.”

Back to our original question.  It doesn’t seem so at this moment, but one day, I hope soon, you will discover this awful experience caused you to grow.  Based on that, no, old acquaintance should not be forgotten, but thanked, because even the bad relationships make us the amazing person we are meant to be if we let them.