Friday, November 11, 2011

The Necessity of Friendships

As I have experienced the trauma that is college application season, I have been forced to think deeply about my life and the various events that have impacted it. One of my essay prompts asked me to describe someone who has had a major impact on my life.

Looking back through my childhood, my friends were the ones who really defined my happiest moments. I believe that a friendship is more valuable in this world than many many material items and even experiences. A great friendship can truly make life more beautiful.

I have decided to share the poem I wrote in response to the prompt here. Thank you to all my best friends who have made every single day that much brighter.

This prompt asked me who has made an impact on my life
and I wonder whether it’s best to outline this through the medium that matters most to me
a medium that seems to always show what I am thinking better than prose can
Poetry done well can make you connect to people you didn’t think were similar to you at all
and if we want to get at the heart of things
poetry has a way of pulling those strings and making you think about what is really all that important in your life

So my poem/essay starts with a friend
This friend is a boy and no we will NEVER be in a relationship
but I care about him as much as I imagine two 90 year olds do when they sit in their rocking chairs
holding crinkled, knotted hands after sixty years of marriage and thinking about the day they met
able to express their appreciation for each other with the blink of an eye
as if a wink from an orb that has seen so much and at times, too much, can actually say
I love you.

In this cynical world of economic recessions and conflicts that sink you into a depression
having a friend who can point out the glowing hope at the end of a shooting star and tell you
“That’s how bright your future is”
can lift you beyond the Heavens into a celestial body you didn’t realize you were capable of fulfilling

And when that friend understands saying nothing at all works as well as saying just the right thing
it makes the loss of your mother that much easier
Few realize that all you need when the world shatters around you is just one solid piece under your feet
supporting the weight of your pain even if it takes the strength of Atlas
When you can release your soul and not fear judgment like you would from some other human who has declared himself God
you know you have placed your world in good hands.

Aristotle said a friend is one soul living in two bodies

and without my own best friend, I’d be nowhere near reaching my soul’s fullest potential

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