In the previous article, I talked about people who give up on their friends as they don’t know or appreciate the value of friendship and the support they get from their honest friends. Giving up on your friends is compromising your good principles and ideals that reflect the true aspects of your personality and humanity.
Principles, dear reader, cannot be divided. A loyal person is always loyal during all the situations, an honest person will act honestly and sincerely. You should be loyal to anyone who loves you sincerely because betrayal is bitter. It easily hurts feelings and hardly can be forgotten. An Arabic parable says “There is no good in an unfaithful friend acting harshly after being friendly”. I got many questions and comments that “There are many unfaithful friends out there, should we leave them?”
First off: An honest and sincere person can’t stop being honest .He cannot be honest in a situation and dishonest at another. These characteristics constitute his identity and shape his principles, so he won’t be able to change them according to the situation. He will be honest in all his interactions as he believes that his honesty and goodness will be rewarded by God, Glory be to His Name, so he won’t wait a reward from anyone for his honesty and will find support from God during all the situations.
Second: I mean by friends those people who show an example of love, loyalty that connote friendship. Situations are what define the true friend not just words. It was said “A true friend is defined by situations not by the number of years in which you know him“. Anger and dispute are the best ways of showing a person’s reality. A wise man once said that if a person becomes mad at you yet doesn’t do you any harm, you should consider him your friend as anger shows people’s reality. A true friend will never hurt his friend no matter how powerful he is as his love will be the barrier that prevent s evil deeds from being in his life. He will be the person that helps you to improve your personality or even prevents you fromdownfall and he won’t allow you to fall. Also, in times of dispute, no matter how tough they are, we find…. To be continued.
Anba Ermiah,
General Bishop & President of the Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center
