Making Friends

It is true that the closest friends we've got are those that have we've been with for a long time that it's impossible to be enemies with them for long because of all the history we share together.

It is also true that our worst enemies are those people who've known us for a long time.

Being transients in a certain place, you get wary about keeping friends. I used to be close to people I work with but having been in a situation where I have to say goodbye (getting transfered, contracts finished, resigned, relocated) it is a bit comforting not being close to anyone. They can just go and you can shrug your shoulders and say, "We weren't really very close" and just forget about it.

However, it is a lonely place to be without any friends that you can trust and be really close with. Even if you avoid being in a situation where you have no choice but be close to certain people, you eventually wake up and realise that a certain colleague or neighbour had become a really good friend and so the anxiety of having to eventually say goodbye, creeps in our subconscious and we try ever so hard not to think it or pray that we never get to cross it.

There are only three other Filipinos at work that it is difficult not being close. We go to lunch together because that's the only time we get to talking about ourselves and get to know one another better. In spite of my efforts not to get to close or the lack of any effort whatsoever to get close, they are now close friends.

We've shared stories, embarrasing situations, problems together that it is impossible not to relate with their lives and the things each one goes through each day. Being Pinoys, one can't help but feel affinity for fellow Pinoys and look out for one another's welfare. Sure there have been scrapes and awkward moments as well as disagreements but these things eventually led to greater understanding and appreciation of one another.

So now we are the jolly, fantastic four. My fear is one had to go away...and then there is three.