True friends are solid rock under your feet. Those who befriend for personal gain are shifting desert sands.
You’re born into a family. There’s a bond there; sometimes warm, sometimes strained, but it exists whether you asked for it or not. Friends are different. Friends are chosen. You choose them, and more importantly, they reciprocate that choice.
Some friends come from our reckless, impetuous youth. Some from our careers. Some from neighborhoods, teams, projects, and the accidents of geography. Time and distance shuffle the cast, but the real ones don’t become strangers. They steady you. They don’t demand a performance. They can disagree without turning you into a defendant. You remember them fondly, and when you see them again after years, you can still pick up mid-sentence, as if time never got a vote. That’s friendship. Not constant contact. An unshakable bond. These are the people you brought into each other’s lives, not for gain but for mutual support.
But there are others. People who orbit you for their own advantage. Their support is there—until it costs them something. Their loyalty is conditional. Their kindness comes with a receipt. They keep score, question motives, and disappear when you’re inconvenient or irrelevant. These relationships can be helpful, even mutually beneficial, but they’re transactions, not friendships. The difference between them is where people get hurt. With transactional allies, trust is offered in exchange for leverage.
Choose wisely, not selfishly. Choose friends for support, and benefits will often follow. Choose people for benefit, and deception shouldn’t surprise you. NeverFearTheDream simplebender.com
NeverFearTheDream simplebender.com Stand For Truth
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