Recognizing true friends

By Cecil Chandler
Feature Reporter
Published: October 5, 2008

Good morning, everyone, and welcome back to another Cecil’s World in Print. I want to talk about friends and friendship. How can you tell if you have a true friend? As we get older, most people will agree that we only have a few true friends we can count on for everything.

When I was growing up, I had a lot of friends, but looking back, I am not so sure they were really what you would call true friends. Now don’t get me wrong, some of the childhood friends turned into true friends and are always there when I need them.

Here are a few best friend quotes that I really like:
“If you’re alone, I’ll be your shadow. If you want to cry, I’ll be your shoulder. If you want a hug, I’ll be your pillow. If you need to be happy, I’ll be your smile. But anytime you need a friend, I’ll just be me.”  — Author Unknown

To me that says it all. Here is another one I like:
“A friend is the one who comes in when the whole world has gone out.” — Grace Pulpit

True friends are hard to find, and most of us can count them on one hand. These are friends who will do whatever it takes to help you when you need it.

Now let’s move to another category. How can you determine a fake friend from a real friend? My definition of a fake friend is one who pretends to be your friend when they are with you, but when they are with others, they are not. Here are a few things I feel will help you determine fake from real friends. Some of these are in fun, but some are real.

Fake friends: Never ask for food.
Real friends: Are the reason you have no food.

Fake friends: Call your parents Mr./ Mrs.
Real friends: Call your parents Dad/Mom.

Fake friends: Have never seen you cry.
Real friends: Cry with you.

Fake friends: Borrow your stuff for a few days then give it back.
Real friends: Keep your stuff so long they forget it’s yours.

Fake friends: Know a few things about you.
Real friends: Could write a book about you with direct quotes from you.

Fake friends: Will leave you behind if that is what the crowd is doing.
Real friends: Will kick the whole crowd’s butt that left you.

Fake friends: Would knock on your front door.
Real friends: Walk right in and say, “I’m home!”

Fake friends: Are for awhile.
Real friends: Are for life.

Fake friends: Will talk bad about you with the person who talks bad about you.
Real friends: Will knock the person out who talked bad about you.

Fake friends: Will borrow money and never pay you back.
Real friends: Will not ask you for money.

(This is the best one out of all of them and it really indicates a real friend.)
Fake friends: Will come to your funeral if you are killed.
Real friends: Would not be able to come to your funeral because they would be in jail for killing the person who did it.

Take time to tell your real friends how much you appreciate them being there for you when you need them. Don’t put it off. Sometimes we wait too long and they are no longer with us and you wish then you would have taken the time to say thanks to a true friend.

That’s it for another Cecil’s World in Print. I’ll see you next week, right here in the Morning News and on the tube.

— Cecil Chandler is a veteran reporter at WBTW News13. His column appears Mondays in the Morning News.