This is why friends are more permanent than candy

When I was in 7^th grade, I had a fair amount of friends. Some, I was closer to than others. One day I was with one of my friends and we found that a cabinet in a classroom was unlocked. This was rather odd because usually the cabinets in this particular classroom were always locked. When we opened it, we found Jolly Rancher candy in it. Being the kids we were and it being the appetizing candy it was, we each took one. We went back to that cabinet every so often to take a piece of candy.

Eventually, we told our other friends so they could share in on the joy that was that candy. It never occurred to us that we couldn’t have it and that it potentially belonged to someone else because we were 12 and that sort of “right” and “wrong” didn’t really cross our minds. One day when the original friend I found the candy with and I were out doing something, the other friends we told got caught taking the candy. They were immediately sent to the principal’s office and were suspended.

This wouldn’t have been a big deal except that we were going on a field trip that Friday and they weren’t allowed to go. The principal asked if there was anyone else that knew about the candy and took from it and my good ol’ friends, being the pals that they were did not rat us out even though it was our (mostly my, since I was the one that originally found the candy) fault that they couldn’t go on the field trip and were stuck in the principal’s office with an in school suspension that went on their records.

The moral of this story is that I had really good friends. Some would argue that they did the dishonest thing and lied, but I got to go on the field trip, so I don’t see it that way. No, but we were 12. So I think that it was a crucial time to learn a lesson and while I didn’t get in trouble, I really did learn the value of sticking by your friends.

The reason I bring up that story today is that I think I’ve been a really crappy friend lately. I haven’t been there for everyone and friendship and loyalty is something I value above most things. If it weren’t for my friends sticking by me through more than odd candy suspensions I wouldn’t have made it this far in life.

I don’t really want to get into that much detail about why I haven’t been there for everyone, but I want whoever is reading this post to know that I recognize the situation and I am doing everything in my power to fix it while it’s not that bad. I also realize that not everyone will get what I’m saying, so just carry on if you feel like you aren’t affected. But I just haven’t been the type of friend that would stick their neck out for someone so that they could avoid punishment. And that’s just a horrible way to live.

I do want to add that the next year, some athletes were caught taking soda from a different room and were not suspended. In fact their punishment was to say that they were sorry. I think that was unjust. But if it means that I learned what it was to be a true friend, then I guess everything fell into place.

I love each one of you and all of my friends and I want you to know that if you got caught taking candy, well this is the real world so I don’t want to get arrested. But if it came down to it, I want to always be there for you.