The Candle of Friendship

The candle stood, flame shining bright, alone but independent, fragile but confident, humble yet strong. 

Friendship, in all its glory and brightness, seems like the easiest thing. How hard can it be? To be friends with someone? But experienced people think otherwise. Friendship, may just be the easiest thing when the goings are good, and both people are happy, and so everyone is happy. But this isn't the case always.......

 The candle still stood, flame still shining bright. Still independent. Still confident. Still humble and still strong. But then, just then, a wind blew. A weak wind, but the flame flickered. The smallest flicker.........

Yes, friendship is easy. Easy, until there's a small problem that arises between you. A tiny, tiny problem, which you think can cause no harm. Ah! But you're mistaken here. And the worst thing you can do is dismiss the problem, without acknowledging it. 

 The wind might have started out weak, but it is certainly persistent. One small flicker after the other, the flame endures it, but it knows that it can no longer do it on its own. Independent people sometimes are dependent you know!?

So you dismissed the problem. But just like that wind, one small, dismissed problem after another, the tension between you two rises. You suddenly find yourself in such a position, that you're fading away, flickering out of existence.....

The flickering has slowed down, reduced. A hand now protects the flame on one side, but why does it continue to flicker? Because on other side, exposed to the raw wind, the flame is still dying, still fading. Slowly, but steadily disappearing. 

Effort from one side will never save your friendship, it will only sustain it for a certain amount of time. The end is inevitable, just like for that flame, if your friendship isn't protected and nourished from both sides.

 The candle stands now, strong again, protected on both sides by loving hands. Nurtured by these loving hands. It is no longer a flame, but a fire. A fire that will burn bright for eternity, because independent as it is, no one is alone in this world, not even a small flame.....

Problems arise in every friendship, every relationship. But all it takes is that small effort from both sides to keep the eternal fire of your friendship burning, and burning bright. Don't give up on your friends, put in that little effort, cause that's all it takes.