A Prayer to a Lost Soul

People change. You wish them to change for the better. But it seems that is rarely the case. What's important is how you react when their life has gone astray. Do you let them live their own life or do you intervene and guide them through the one you thought they deserve? It is at this crossroad that brings to light the kind of friend they are to you and you are to them.

I rarely discuss topics unrelated to money on this blog, but friends laugh with you, create memories with you, and endure with you. I decided to write about my thoughts on friendship because I've started to see a friend of mine, one I thought I really cared about, drift away from me and into a life that I don't much respect. What's worse is that I've been able to do nothing as she changed and it made me question who I am. I try to meddle as little as possible and let people learn from their own mistakes. It is how people grow, but it's hard and frustrating having to witness someone you really care about lead down the wrong moral path.

Most of us are afraid to confront our friends because we lack the courage to face the issue head on and we lack the knowledge to tackle the problem. The reality is that confronting your friend often results in conflict and the end of a friendship, but I pose myself the question, "What friendship is left when the transformation is complete?" A non-existent relationship and the wasted life of an awesome person that made my world brighter.

People will tell you that they mean a lot to you and when you lent all those ears and let them lean on all your shoulders, you learn that it was all for naught, all in vain if you will, as their life unfolds and withers away into what it potentially will or has become. We are all given an equal chance to make our lives positive and to be role models to others, but people are greedy and selfish and they crave money, power, drugs, and lust. Why can't we all crave respect, humility, love, and dignity?

Dear friend: just five months ago, we talked about your future; we talked about fun things like boys, movies, and places to visit. And remember when we used to hate those that do the things you do now? Because I sure do. Honestly, I can't say for sure if my suspicions are accurate, but from the words of others, those that I trust and respect, it appears they are true. I won't say names because this applies to so many others, but I want you back. I want you to change to the girl who saw the world as a stage and wanted to be an interior designer, a girl who started a tradition of gelato every month with me, a girl who punched me when something really cute happened beside us.

Most of you won't have made it to this paragraph, but I needed to use this as a catharsis, as a way to figure out what's going on in my head. It is a shame to see a life possibly wasted yet again and to see that the people she surrounds herself finds no inspiration to be better people. I want her to change back to who she used to be, but people are often set in their own decisions.

The girl I knew two years ago is long gone and the body that remains is just an empty vessel to me. I care enough to get you back on track but I feel I was too late in recognizing who you have become. I feel that I've come to the same solution that I've always resorted to and that is if you choose to ask for my help, kid, I'll be there before the sun peaks above the horizon, but if you decide that the path you have taken is best, and you feel that I shouldn't have known about it from the start, then the respect and admiration for my wisdom you have shown me was devoid of any maturity that I once thought existed in you.

I surround myself with people who will inspire me and be inspired by me. I surround myself with people who have identified their goals and wishes, things that they are passionate about, people who love to be alive and make every minute count because they know it is limited, and people whose legacy will survive because I will tell others of their wonderful soul. But the person you may become is not someone I would admire and someone I would never surround myself with. Are you ready to lose me and the people that are on this side of the track who have laughed, created, and endured with you?

I would much rather find out I'm entirely wrong and you are offended by my misleading information and intuition. I would love to know you stayed true to yourself, that your strength in character was underestimated, and you are same person I appreciate having in my life. Honestly, I really would.