The Strong Friend: the grass ain’t always green

This is an ode to the strong friend.

The one they never really check on, the one who brings light and life in a room, the one who encourages others before themselves…how are you doing? When’s the last time someone has asked you this question or any question never concerning the party in need?

People tend to forget that us strong folk, sometimes bear a cross that may tend to outweigh us. It’s heavy and we get tired sometimes. Everyone seems to forget we’re human too.

We have a bunch of friends and love ones that call us every time there is a tragedy or a issue that they can handle but yet we are the problem solvers, we are the doctors ,the healers and we are the protectors of other’s sanity.

But at times we wonder when will somebody come in and bridge that gap? When will somebody carry this cross with us? And will somebody respect us enough when we need our solitude is well?

What’s crazy is the fact that many people would tell us we’re the best thing that ever happened to them, they will praise us, and love on us but yet our call log, our mailbox, and our hearts sometimes remain unfilled.

It is not uncommon that you will see a strong friend always have a smile on their face even in the mist of their pain. The personal battles even the reflective demons that we self medicate with music, church, and sometimes vices that some may be aware of or not.

Sometimes in those same moments, we have to literally hide ourselves from people that consistently drain us not because of a need but just because we are there all the time.

We will literally foresake many opportunities just so that the needs of others around us can be met because our hearts are just that big.

A majority of us have these successful platforms and even those require a piece of us. Maybe we were born into these positions as a generational keeper. But even a title like that can be tiring.

I remember from when my uncle passed back in 2006, he said to me

“You have to keep the family together, by all means”.

To the world we are superhuman, but truthfully people forget we are human.

So how are you?