Friends or Foes?

It is necessary for us to take the bitter pill when the occasion calls for it. Similarly, we should possess a huge capacity for criticisms, both kind and unkind, so long as these criticisms are constructive ones that allow us to improve. Friends who offer criticisms should be treasured because they are actually placing their friendship at stake by this gesture. They suffer from an imperfect knowledge of how their subject reacts to it, whether positively or negatively. It is better to hear the cold, hard truth face-to-face than to receive it when you least expect it from gossip-mongers who talk behind your back. Offering criticisms is different from hurling abuses, the latter being insulting and offensive and hence yields no tangible outcomes.

Many friends fall out due to misunderstandings, and these misunderstandings arise from either a lack of communication or too much of it, too much in a sense that people simply have enough of criticisms of themselves from their friends. The transition from friends to foes is a high price to pay. You lose a friend and you learn nothing from the experience. Take heed!