Friends that Empower: Part 2

The Samaritan

Your Samaritan friend does unforgetable big surprises to you and your beloved ones. By many accounts, you usually consider this friend as 'distant' and hence, there is no intimate relationship between you and him. But he proves you otherwise by 'saving' you from real, big troubles. You may fall sick and/or you may face a tough challenge that could turn around your life in an unwanted direction. You clearly feel help from some one very close to you. Unfortunately, all the people you approach may decline to offer you any help and/or they do not just have the required qualities that time. You will then find yourself no where.

Friends that Empower

In my previous two posts, I highlighted some of the characteristics of friends that consciously or unconsciously hurt. In this post, I have the pleasure of acknowledging the deeds of those genuine friends who constantly regulate their actions and in favor of their friendships. In fact, good friends are at the core of modern life, as we amazingly pass a significant portion of our time with them, albeit much using social networking technologies. 

One Ethiopia Many Religions

Religion defines the spiritual, moral, and even secular lives of billions worldwide. Although the extent and modality differs from religion to religion and even from individual to individual, religion is generally considered a frame of reference to life and living. Modern social values including the legal and educational systems are influenced by the norms and traditions of religions. This is clearly observed in Ethiopia where believers are usually actively living their religious values, norms and traditions. It is thus seminal to talk about religion as related to social cohesion and development generally. 

Change in the Air Again?

I feel as if we are in  the early and middle 60s (Ethn. Cal.), when the default news and public discourse were  on regime change, possible clashes, and the like. Visit any blog and/or website, you will get articles on how PM Meles has been doing recently and what he is up to. I very much wish him to stay in good health and witness, if not participate in, the next change. If I were him, I would have facilitated a peaceful and truly democratic change in Ethiopia. That way, I could 'save' my name for centuries to come, and above all, Ethiopia could once again emerge as loveable and livable.

Friends that Hurt: Part II

In my previous post, I promised to  characterize the actions/behaviours of bad friends, only to a certain extent though. This with the prime goal of understanding who really some of our friends are. Mind that the following types of terrible friends are just a few of the posssible many that, in one way or another, complicate or ruin the lives of poor fellows. The pictures are taken from various sources to somehow simplify my ideas.  

Friends that Hurt

How do you characterize your friendship networks? Or, of your friends, who hurt/s and/or help/s you and how frequently? This seems a naive question but it is quite worth considering as friends are among those people who 'shape' our lives. Yes, the lives of many are challenged and even devastated by the irresponsible acts of their own close friends. You would have heard, witnessed, and/or experienced complications in one's friendship networks that finally took their nastiest form. And you might have perceived that the hurt from 'bad' friends has psychological, moral, social, spiritual, and even economical manifestations. Yes, there are extreme instances where best friends ended killing each other, at character and person levels.