“Goodness is about character — integrity, honesty, kindness, generosity, moral courage and the like. More than anything else, it is about how we treat other people.”
– Dennis Prager

I’m cheating a bit today, as this is a photo I made three years ago from the window of my car as I drove to work one morning. The tree in the foreground is on my wife’s home farm. When I was commuting to work, I would see this scene daily.

The post was prompted by one of those Facebook Memories pop-ups and I recalled the painful events that caused me to make the photo and insert the text, which is not something I normally do. But, I felt the quote and the image might help others come to terms with unhealthy relationships.

It was during this period in my life when several close friends suddenly turned on me, very publicly, to serve their own interests. I would not wish this experience on anyone. Those days were filled with self-doubt, depression, anger, and I nice touch of paranoia. I’m the type of person who is very cautious about who I let in my life and it hurts all the more when I realize I made a poor choice.

As I emerged from the experience, I spent a lot of time on introspection, trying to figure out what I had done to deserve their attacks, and how the situation escalated so quickly, is something I have to this day to figure out. I do know now that is was led by one individual and others followed along to remain in his favour and continue to do so. During this time I came across the quote by Dennis Prager and it reminded me why the true friends who stood by me during those dark days were and still remain my friends. It’s because they are, simply put, ‘good’ people, who exhibit the traits mentioned in the quote. It has become a bit of a mantra for me and a gauge to consider the character of those who call themselves my friends.