I Love the Way You Lie

Lately I feel like I've stumbled into an alternate reality. One that is filled with questionable behavior from those I never would have suspected: Lies, betrayal, and downright juvenile, immature cruelty.

Don't get me wrong, I know that nobody is perfect, especially myself. We all make mistakes, and nobody, I don't care who you are, is 100% honest, 100% of the time. (I mean, c'mon, which of us hasn't at least said something along the lines of "Oh grandma, I love my new wool sweater with pink cats and green giraffes" ? You get my point.)  

However, it saddens me to see those around me burning bridges, severing ties, and doing irrevocable damage to those that were closest to them. Is this what the world has come to? In order to get ahead, we throw our "best friends" under one swift moving train after another?

All of the Holidays spent together, people that we have attended weddings for or with, those that have seen us at our lowest but rarely if ever judged us and always supported us. Those that we have most likely gotten fall down drunk with, broken bread with, that know our deepest, darkest secrets. Most importantly, people that we entrusted to know our soul, to see us for who we really are, and those that gave us that same valuable respect in return.

THESE are the people we choose to use to get ahead in this deity forsaken world?  

I understand the opportunistic behavior. 
I understand looking out for number one.

I don't understand being such a spiteful, inconsiderate person that you would use your "friends" as stepping stones, and scrape dog shit that you've trudged through along your way to the "TOP" on their faces.

Yeah, maybe you'll get to where you think you want to be.
Perhaps you'll even achieve to be the epitome of success - fame, fortune, and all of your shiny new toys.
But then who will you have to share it with?
Once you have used your last genuine friend to get where you wanted, I challenge you to pick up your phone and just try to find one of your new lemmings to share heartfelt sentiments with. I challenge you to find ONE, just ONE that won't use you, the way you have others. One that won't take the fact that they know you as a stepping stone, one that won't make every detail about their friendship with you public to get ahead. One that cares genuinely about you, not your status, or your lifestyle. One that will be bluntly honest and not always blow smoke up your ass. One that you can tell ANYTHING to and not fear judgment or being sold out.  Yeah, good luck.
At some point you had those friends and you chose to throw them into the garbage, replacing them with people who idol worship you.
No one should be bowed down to as if they are something out of a religious document of some sort. No person should ever be deified. It does an immense amount of damage to their psyche, and turns them into something that no longer resembles a human being.

I am not casting stones, mind you. I've made mistakes with my own friends, I've fucked up. Yet I have almost always done my absolute best to rectify those situations, and try to make them as right as I can. Some relationships I've had to let go, because they were poisonous for both sides, and that's a part of life.

Fortunately,  I've never ended genuine friendships, with true people, over opportunistic, idiotic behavior. 

That being said ... we should all take a good long look in the mirror, and assess ourselves to see if we honestly like what we see deeper than the surface. If you have read this, and know you've fucked up, realize that nothing is permanent, and nothing is ever really over, so start making amends. It won't be easy, it won't happen overnight, but true friends are more than worth the effort and time you put into them.