Search for:

J is For Jump

~*~

On Choosing Friends

David McMahon of Authorblog poses a weekly query. Most recently he asked, “How Do You Choose Your Friends?”

It is a matter I have never given much thought to, though I have thought about who NOT to choose as a friend. When teaching 5th grade I often talked to my students about how they should choose friends. 1.) People who do things that embarrass you or make you feel uncomfortable are not your friends. 2.) If the people you hang out with are constantly in trouble and leading you in to trouble too, they are not your friends. 3.) If your friend is only your friend when you have something he wants, he is not your friend.

At David’s prmpting, I thought about my friends — my truly good friends — and realized they all have something in common. I look up to and admire them. They all have qualities I would like to better nurture in myself. My friends are honest, hard-working but fun-loving people. I can easily say that the quality I admire most in each of them is integrity.

So — my friends are people with whom I share like values, goals and beliefs, and each and everyone of them are people who challenge me to try harder, do better, and become more.

Quilly is the pseudonym of Charlene L. Amsden, who lives on The Big Island in Hawaii. When she is not hanging out with Amoeba, she is likely teaching or sewing. Or she could be cooking, taking photographs, or even writing. But if she's not doing any of that, she's probably on Facebook or tinkering with her blog.

24 Comments

  1. What an excellent question. I had to really think about what it was my friends all had in common and it came down to this: in the event I was ever arrested for anything, any of them would come bail me out.

  2. Whoof!! I like yur Jump. Mine is Ja____ well maybe I’ll just let you come over to mine dog blog and see fur yurself. Arf, arf.

  3. Hi All. Mine today is Joyous, Joyful, and a few other J’s thrown in for fun. That is one ‘cool’ jump picture, Quilly!! I’ll be back to give that question another read when I’ve had some sleep, lol.

    Wishing everyone a Wonderful Weekend.

  4. How graceful! What a perfect capture for J!!

    It sounds like you gave your students very important advice that they can use for the rest of their lives.

    My J is up. I bet you can’t guess what it is! LOL!!

  8. Yes, Quilly – I was DESPERATE for a J photo!!! I could not think of ANYthing… other than Jelly. And I didn’t even eat it — I fed it to the dog — who’s name is??? JEWL! Duh…

    And my post can read 12:01 the following day when I go to bed at 8:30 the night before because I TELL them too! And they listen…

  9. Oh… I choose my friends by who makes me laugh — withOUT getting in me in trouble … or pulling me away from God.

  12. what a great J!

    friends… i don’t know… some people just ‘click’, others don’t… nothing wrong with that, i think… but i love your advice 🙂

  13. Kat — my friends likely wouldn’t. We’re all of the school of “learn from your mistakes”.

    Reba — on my way!

    Alice — its a “thinking” question, so awake would probably be best.

    Karen — JAke picked himself, hmmmmmm?

    Brig — beautiful show-off-y animal!

    Cindy — be there to see in a sec.

    Dr. John — that’s the truth!

    Melli — when I tell my post what time I want it to read, it actually waits until that time to post! Jewl forgave you for forgetting how to spell her name the moment you gave her the jelly toast.

    Mar — thanks, be there in a jiffy.

    Baba — beautiful choice.

    Juliana — of course, the click does have to be there.

  14. Great J pic!

    I enjoyed reading your thoughts on the choosing of friends. I wholeheartedly agree with you on the matter. When you choose friends using the standards you wrote about, you end up with really good friends.

  17. JD — thanks. I loved your Mother’s Day sermon but for some reason my comments kept bouncing.

    Andrew — the girls are well trained and the seals keep them in line.

    Minkydo — it’s worth teaching. Choosing the right friends is an important life skill.

  18. Hi Quilly and all my Alphabet Photo Friends!
    Just wanted to let you know that Reba and I will be “away” for a day or two… maybe more. I’m getting burned out and would rather shut the computer down for a couple days than to through it through a window… sigh. I’m sure it won’t last long, and I look forward to returning. I love this ‘Challenge’, and I plan to catch up just as soon as I can.

    Hugs to all.

  21. This is an excellent shot. I am discovering how hard it is to actually get a decent clear shot of animal movement ! Like this one.

    Love your WW “choosing friends” too – a great tribute to you and those that support your work.

  22. The photo is great. Wonderful timing on this one. And the message on choosing friends is thoughtful and full of wisdom. Thanks for sharing both.

  23. Zingtrail — I still have friends from grade school because once you find a keeper ya gotta keep’em!

    Cath — I put the camera on auto-shoot, held it steady and then pressed the shutter button. I have the whole sequence of pictures from diving into the pool to climbing out. I just chose the best one for this post.

    Robert — see my comment to Cath. And thank you for your kind comments, often I feel foolish and silly. I could use a few more bursts of wisdom!

Comments are closed.