One should never underestimate the power of true friends. Real friends can hold you when you are weak lift you up when you fall protect you when you are vulnerable. True friends will allow you to grow and change. They will accept if you do something they do not understand that there was a reason for it, and will forgive you if they were accidently hurt by it. True friends are rare and hard to come by. Many people call everyone they spend time with their friend. I do not I have many associates and buddies, but for me to call you friend, ( and by friend I mean someone that I will always have their back, someone that I will forgive ,someone that is a great value in my life. Someone I would believe without question.), you must be someone special. Once I call someone my friend I do not turn on them easily, but there have been a couple cases where I thought someone was my friend and they proved themselves not to be my friend at all. It was necessary to let them go or on a couple occasions eject them from my life all together and move on.
When you find it necessary to get rid of someone you once called friend it is not an easy decision, but with the passage of time I have found my life to be better off without those few I have found were not the friends I once thought them to be. I do not give up on those I call friend easily. One fight will not cause me to leave them behind. 
I have one friend I have know for nearly a decade. Over the years she and I have had many fights some little and over in hrs. Others huge and lasting months. There is one thing that has always made it so we could find our way back to each other. THE TRUTH She and I do not lie to each other about anything we do to the other. We have found over the years the truth is the great healer. I will admit there was one time I nearly let her go forever, but it was her willingness to do whatever it took to help me forgive her that brought her back into my life. She had broken a promise to me. I RARELY FORGIVE A BROKEN PROMISE! An ordinary lie I can forgive with an apology a broken promise where one actually said the words I PROMISE I do not forgive easily and usually not at all. What made her special and gave me the forgiveness I needed to allow her back into my life was she went the distance to do everything I asked her to for me to forgive her. She valued my friendship enough to do the things I needed to open my heart back up to her. I will admit id did not make it easy on her, but she did it all and in doing so she made me see to lose a friend such as her would be a great loss in my life. It turned out really well. She is still my friend and I am lucky to have her. I can only hope all of you find a friend that values you so much, and if you do NEVER LOSE THEM.
Back on the subject of broken promises. I have had 2 others break promises to me over the years and they are no longer a part of my life. There is still a slim chance they could make their way back into my life, but they would need to prove to me it would be worth my effort to forgive them. My advice is if someone hurts you but apologizes it is good to give them a second chance, however if they screw up the second chance they may not value you as much as you once did them.
An on line tip: I have had some on line people I added to my buddy list over the years, and I found out some of them are net stalkers not what I would call friends. Many of you know I have many other on line ids and I use other names with them. Some of my ids are what people call hiders. A hider is an id you use to go somewhere and play without having to deal with the stressful people on your other ids. There are a couple of these net stalkers that make it their life's mission to hunt all over the net and try to find my other ids. It is annoying when they actually find one of them and blow my cover, but what is funny is when they THINK they have found one of mine AND THEY DID NOT. Maybe it is naughty of me but on occasion I have left them THINK they found me when they did not. I figure if they are annoying the person they think is me then I can go an play and enjoy myself without them. lol It is always funny when people are not as smart as they think they are.
You need to be careful who you call friend on the net. Many people lie about who they are, and things in their lives. I myself have even done it on occasion, but my real friends always know the truth about me. Those that have proven themselves to me and I know I can trust them they need only ask and I will tell them whatever they wish to know. If you are one of those that have not seen that side of me perhaps you should take a look at the side of you that you have been showing me for the reason why.
One should not call everyone they talk to their friend. I have told people in my real life that very thing. Just because I talk to someone does not mean I call them friend. MY FRIENDS ARE THE PEOPLE I SAY ARE MY FRIENDS, not all the people I talk to. I will talk to nearly anyone if they are civil with me. Humans need other human contact and sometimes our real friends are not available. There is nothing wrong with talking to someone even if you do not call them friend. Just be careful what you say to people you are not sure you can trust. I found that out the hard way.
