Who Are You?

My wise Granny must have told me a hundred times, "Tell me who your friends are, I'll tell you who you are."  Maybe this is a good time to think of our friends and decide if they reflect our values.

Way back in the middle of high school at Holy Rosary Academy in Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.A., I noticed that all of the girls seemed to be in circles of those who were in their own neighborhoods.  That was fine but I wanted everyone for a friend, and to be a friend in many different groups.  It was certainly more fun!

To this day, I enjoy a diverse and interesting chain of relationships:  people of all ages, different or no occupations, Catholics and other Christians, several atheists, one feminist, one Hindu, several living in other countries, some of other races and several of different sexual orientation.  I don't know if Granny would approve.  We all are trying to do our best, given our circumstances in life.  I love and respect them all.

Years ago, my staunch feminist friend asked me, "Well, now that you know what I believe, do you still want to be my friend?"  I quickly replied, "If two friends like you and me can't get along together, there's no hope for world peace!"  That was approximately forty years ago.  She is still militantly feminist and we are still friends.  The same conversation went on more recently with a Catholic friend who had converted to Buddhism.

There were plenty of my former patients, when I was a working nurse, that I would have cared to befriend, if it had not been unethical and against hospital policy.  Indeed, when I was a manager, I had to fire two young men for making contact with two young women who had been our former patients.  It was so hard for me to do this!  I told my boss, "It's harder for me to do this than it is for them."  He said, "No, it's not.  They're losing their jobs."

Research has proven time and again, that those with close friends will live longer and happier lives.  We are created by God to live in relationships.  Let's nurture all those friends we have this happy Christmas Season!