The deeper friend

Happy New Year, folks! I'm elated to be alive and kicking, bringing you my first column of 2016. For me the new year means starting afresh from the inside out.

I recently read an online article about a young woman who died alone in her house and no body knew until her skeleton was discovered three years later! I read that story again and again, asking myself what it must feel like to die alone like that and a whopping three years passing by without anyone ever knowing. 

If a man has no friend he may quit the stage

I concluded that that young woman had no friend in the whole world, or those purported to be her friends were fake; lip-service friends not the authentic ones that can take a bullet for you.

That tragic story gave me a reality check. I stayed wide awake that night wondering whether I've a friend I can count on. One who cares to call often or drop you a line to check how you're doing and goes the extra mile of visiting you in case you don't respond.

Whether I've that kind of friend is not the question. The question is, am I a true friend to somebody out there? Do I've some people I care about enough to stay in touch with on a daily basis that I would know when they are sick or struggling and be there for them?

I don't want to be the superficial friend like the friends of the single woman who died alone in her house and no one got to know until three years later. So my New Year resolution is to reach out more, know my friends in deeper ways than before.

Francis Bacon once said, "If a man have not a friend he may quit the stage." I think the great philosopher was talking about a  friend that sticks closer than a brother. Every person deserves such a friend, but we must first be that  friend before we get that friend.