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Becoming Your
Own Best Friend
Many of you have probably watched the Christmas
movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
Jimmy Stewart’s character, George Bailey, is
forever helping others. He is well liked and respected. This is apparent
to everyone, but George. He feels depressed and hopeless. He is in a rut
and feels bad because he hasn’t been able to accomplish the things he
set out to do.
We feel the same way at times. We know that we
haven’t achieved our dreams and may feel like a failure, but deep
inside, we long to know that we are respected and loved, and have
affected the lives of those around us.
George finally realizes this at the end of the
movie, through the gifts and love from his friends. The movie ends with
an inscription in a book George has been given: “No man is a failure who
has friends, and no man feels like a failure if he learns to become his
own best friend.” Your life, no matter how insignificant it seems, is
much more important than you realize. That is what this movie is telling
us.
No matter how hard our friends try to build us up,
there has to be someone on the inside. I need to be my own friend. I
need to accept myself, even with all of my strengths and weaknesses.
This does not mean shutting out the rest of the world or becoming an
arrogant snob. It does mean establishing a seed of self acceptance that
can grow inside you.
If you treat yourself as your own best friend, you
will become more comfortable with others. Of course, there are times
when days have been “no good and terrible,” but friends help friends
through tough times. If you are your own best friend, it will be much
easier.
The above thought came from a book, “Being Your Own
Best Friend,” by Whiteman and Peterson. It is full of good help for the
Class of 2008, whose members will be commencing their life in an adult
world. The associates of the Calhoun Chronicle extend to you our best
wishes for a life full of friends, starting with God and yourself.
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