tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6784401.post115980648893768803..comments2023-10-01T07:20:49.614-07:00Comments on The Counterpoint: Strangers In PassingChris Ewinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06085340298401296474noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6784401.post-1163017509327923392006-11-08T12:25:00.000-08:002006-11-08T12:25:00.000-08:00Being real is a scary thing, both to the person re...Being real is a scary thing, both to the person reaching out and especially to the person on the receiving end. After all, the person making the real statement has presumably had time to prepare and to think about what it means to be revealing and true and to take the big breath and plunge in. The person on the receiving end may be like someone thrown into the cold ocean, unable to catch his/her breath and trying desperately to tread water -- and at the same time letting no one know that anything is going on.<BR/><BR/>Time can be the healer in cases like this. It takes time for the receiver to process and, sometimes, they adjust to the water temperature and life goes on. Sometimes it takes even more time, as other life experiences and comments from OTHER people offer new perspectives on what seemed to be too real to take in.<BR/><BR/>The previous poster is right -- you can't force someone to be your friend, particularly not in the deep way that you mean. But you can be patient and open, maybe even create opportunities to reconnect at a surface level so that, one day, all the old, deeper roots can reconnect as well.<BR/><BR/>The sad truth is that people become separated through circumstances, even death, that we can do nothing about. So it seems a waste when we are separated by choices that we CAN control. Maybe this is a tiny part of what God feels when we voluntarily separate ourselves from him, turning away from the "real" things he wants to say to us.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6784401.post-1160108907122386562006-10-05T21:28:00.000-07:002006-10-05T21:28:00.000-07:00I think friendships need to be two sided. Whenever...I think friendships need to be two sided. Whenever you reach the point that it is clearly one sided and that is hurting you more than you can take, you need to move on. I would always stay open to that person should they decide to try to be friends again (holding grudges are too much work) but would not activley work at it.Griswoldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07994828696835914004noreply@blogger.com