Be that friend....

About a year ago I recently got back in contact with a really good friend of mine. We had attended prep school together in Jamaica but grew apart when I started high school and she moved back to to the States. It was so ironic that we haven't spoken for years but once we got back in contact it was like we have never been apart. It may sound cliche but people really do change. She was still a sweet person but after long hours on the phone I instantly learned a lot about the type of person she had become. She had become a true stranger to me.

Still kind-hearted and still a charismatic individual but I realized that she was going down the wrong path. She never graduated high school, she was a stripper, she was on drugs and alcohol, she had two daughters that were taken from her and she was divorced at only age 24. Wooow I thought to myself! How did she end up down this path? I have always known her to be a smart and goal-oriented person and it really bothered me that the person I knew 15 years ago was not the same person I reunited with today. 

I have never been one to pass judgment on someone because I don't know what they are going through and I don't know what they went through instead I try to be a true friend and try to understand. Life is strange though because a lot of times people don't realize that God works in mysterious ways. People are placed in our lives sporadically but if you believe in fate you know they were put there for a reason and out of all the places I could be in the world I end up running into her 15 years later. 

She seriously had nothing good going for her and was inspired by the type of life I was living and the goals I have set for myself. She would tell me repeatedly how proud she was of me and how she wished she was like me. I always responded by saying, you don't have to be me but you don't have to be the person you are either.

People's attitudes towards life can be contagious and I'm glad my friend caught this 'positive flu' from me. Not to pat myself on the shoulders but I am proud to say that I feel great knowing that I have impacted someone's life and have been a great influence. 

Today this same person I reunited with a year ago has cleaned up her life. She recently got her GED, she is no longer a stripper, clean from substance abuse and has remarry. I am proud of her because she has been through a lot and she looked at how I handled my life and was inspired to be a better person.

Be that shoulder that others can lean on in their most depressing times....I truly believe that a true friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out. Be a positive influence in somebody's life and you will be surprised at how powerful you actually are.