The End

Hey Guys!

 No, this is not the end of That Natural Beauty. Just the name of the article.

 I'm going to get right to the point. Recently in the past few months there has been a monstrous falling out between me and people who I used to be friends with. Expecting us to be capable of mending the brokenness in between us was my hope. Sadly, in some circumstances, such as these, it couldn't be done. Where the pains and division cut far too deep and the wounds just couldn't heal, while the other party refused to try to remedy the situation in an appropriate manner. So it became my realization that it was time for me to let it go. And by that I mean, letting them go. Sometimes, we lose those we had hoped to keep. It happens and it is a very painful process for all parties involved. But, you know what, there is always hope that maybe some time far in the future that friendship will be redeemed.

   This brings me to my first point, friendship is that state of cordiality that allows groups of people to have fellowship and bonding. Friendship is founded on trust, loyalty, and love. With all these things comes respect. Sadly, it is easy to break that friendship by destroying one or all these attributes to the friendship. As we have all done at least once. By breaking these foundations we break the friendship and it then becomes the other parties' choice to either redeem the friendship or not.

    Second point, friendship is a blessing. As such, it must not be taken for granted. I easily took that particular friendship for granted and for that I lost it. For that I am sorry. Try to not make the same mistakes as I. Everything catches up to you in the end. Whether you care or not, it will find you, whatever it is.

    Third point, when you badly hurt someone emotionally it leaves a scar, just as if you had badly hurt someone physically. That scar will follow them and you until the day death comes for both. It is another price one must pay for what they destroyed.  I do apologize for damaging those people emotionally. It was wrong.

    Fourth point, it takes all parties to completely obliterate a friendship. As bad as one member of a particular friendship erred, it was the other party that refused to forgive them. For this, they lost that friendship. It is not easy to forgive, it never is, it never will be, but it must be. It might take many years, but the longer you allow yourself to become bitter the harder it's going to become to enjoy life fully and to love other people completely. No matter how old you are, no matter how much you know, you know nothing if you can't forgive and love despite your humanity.

"To err is human; to forgive is divine." -Alexander Pope

   I know the beauty of this situation. It was difficult to find but it was found.  The freedom to see someone as they are and to see yourself as you are require extremely high payment. To know and understand the difference between what a person openly displays about themselves and what they try to hide brings much sorrow at first, but joy in the latter. Through these many painful and erratic experiences I've come to know myself better, even the darker side of me. I've seen what type of a monster I can become. It frightened me at first, but then it challenged me to become a better person. Or at least try to be. I can't give up my own fight. I won't surrender to that part of myself, instead I've openly chosen to better myself beyond myself. To embrace that which can't always be understood; grace, love, forgiveness,  & God. To withdrawal myself from that I thought I could handle; anger, sadness, depression, and fear. I won't die a monster but as much of a hero as I can muster up within myself. What I've seen and what others have seen in me is inexcusable, not unforgivable. But now they have nothing on me. Because self-recognition is both the hardest and safest part of being human. It shows you what you need to fix within yourself before you are able to fix others.

    At self-recognition I do not lack, my own flaws do not go unnoticed by me. However, I can't help but wonder if the other recognizes their flaws because it became so easy for them to pinpoint my flaws but theirs' seemed to go unnoticed. This is why that friendship failed. We all erred, few could forgive, but in the end it won't matter who did and said what, because Divine intervention always happens.

    And everyone's fate is the same. But I choose to walk forward and not backward because we aren't meant to walk backwards, are we? No. So why waste precious time doing it? I won't, what about you? Embrace your natural beauty and walk forward into the future with your head up high and dignity accompanied by its old friends hope and love. See what the future holds and embrace opportunity. Everyone will find a way someday, I've chosen today.