MAKING FRIENDS by Beverly Floro, Spirit Writer

MAKING FRIENDS by Beverly Floro, Spirit Writer

“Make new friends but keep the old. One is silver and the other’s gold.” I remember singing this song in my Girl Scout troop. This group included girls who attended another elementary school in my small town, whom I would not otherwise have met. I remember the excitement and positive energy from making these new friends. And when I went to middle school on Guam, I attended the local public school and not the school for military dependents. I made friends from other cultures and backgrounds. I was able to participate in the “melting pot of the Pacific”. There was a feeling that all were accepted and there were no barriers because of our differences. Meeting a new person for the first time is like reading a new book or gazing into a unique variation of nature. Success in this process requires the withholding of judgment and expectation. This experience breathes new life into the present and creates a different perspective. The old is released, and beliefs are tuned like strings of an instrument. There is a new consciousness and an absence of struggle or manipulation. It merely requires openness and channeling of childhood awe and curiosity. Making new friends is a process I hope never ends in my life.