What quality do you value most in a friend?

Growing up, I had a lot of friends. None of them made it through my twenties. There were a lot of factors that weeded them out. Money was typically the reason.

I was kind in my twenties, and would offer taking people shopping. The more I offered, the less these individuals wanted to be my friends. I was offering money to help them feel better.

One day, a good friend at the time decided to lie about money owed to her. We had a shared phone plan. After the plan was turned off, she informed me I owed her $300. When I agreed to pay, she changed the amount to $3000. Yet, wouldn’t allow me to see the bill.

For months, she made up every excuse until finally, we stopped talking. I have similar stories with other people who were supposed to be friends.

Yet, I gave my friendships my all.

I listed honesty and integrity because they are a working pair. In this day and age, people act like honesty and integrity are beneath them. And they expect others to treat them well.

The same people attempting to get the best of me, were doing the same thing in their romantic relationships. Cheating, lying, stealing. I was never surprised when so and so had a story to tell me.

I cut a lot of people off by the time I was 25. Originally, I thought I was being harsh. Until running into the same individuals and seeing how nothing had changed. I chose peace over the need to feel popular, and it was worth it, considering how much I needed to learn.

So, any friendship void of honesty and integrity is not a friendship at all. Someone is a convenience to the other. A narcissist is lurking. I feel that’s with everything relationship you’ll have, though. Otherwise, why bother?