One of the greatest lessons life has taught me, is to hold on to your friends. Over the years you meet many people from all walks of life, but it is only a handful who remain long term and who also make the effort to keep in touch. In addition to keeping in touch via the usual mediums such as social networks or emailing, it is those friends who are physically present in our lives that truly make the real effort to keep the friendship alive. This does not mean to say that all those other friends are necessarily bad, but certainly not quite in the same league.
Let me give an example; One of my older friends was born and bred in India. He moved to Manchester around 2001. We first met in Manchester in 2003 as we were both living at the same student residence. He had a much nicer room, as I was staying in the basement next to the laundry room, without any windows; similar to the cell of «Hanibal Lecter» from «Silence of the Lambs» my friend on the other hand, had views from the first floor of both the extensive green, front garden and the tennis court.
But I digress, this friend has the kind of emotional intelligence that we all look for, making him feel as we occasionally, jokingly say to one another «my brother from another mother». The other thing that sets him apart from other friends is that he not only «talks the talk but he even walks the walk«. Yes, he is not a fair weather friend, but rather someone who backs his words with actions.
After our initial year living together and subsequent 5 years as neighbours, he unfortunately for me, had to move to North America for a job offer. However, in spite of the distance, we have not only kept in touch but he even visited us in Manchester again; we in turn visited him at his new home between Boston and New York and he even came to see me in both Barcelona and Valencia. I have since been back to see him again in his adoptive town of New Haven.
I one day hope to make a similar journey with him to meet his family in his home region of Kerala in India.
It is this kind of sacrifice by turning words into actions that keeps friendships alive which is a lesson which I am glad to have learnt.
(the above picture was taken during a weekend in Edinburgh)
Clases de Inglés en Valencia
