Friendship is a mirror to presence and a testament to forgiveness. Friendship not only helps us see ourselves through another’s eyes, but can be sustained over the years only with someone who has repeatedly forgiven us for our trespasses as we must find it in ourselves to forgive them in turn. A friend knows our difficulties and shadows and remains in sight, a companion to our vulnerabilities more than our triumphs, when we are under the strange illusion we do not need them. An undercurrent of real friendship is a blessing exactly because its elemental form is rediscovered again and again through understanding and mercy. All friendships of any length are based on a continued, mutual forgiveness. Without tolerance and mercy all friendships die. – David Whyte
Image: Connection by Don McCullough via Flickr
Welcome! I am a lawyer turned freelance writer, essayist, and editor. On staff at Literary Mama and the co-founder and co-editor of the literary journal, The Sunlight Press, my essays and reported work have appeared in The Washington Post, The Lily, Saveur, Civil Eats, Brain, Child, ESPN and elsewhere. I am currently at work on a memoir on grief and culture and how it provides perspective on life’s ordinary graces. I invite you to appreciate the ordinary with me. I hope my daily practice of seeing the magic in the mundane helps you celebrate and find more of these moments in your life too.
LOVE. Shared on my fb page.
Thanks for sharing, Nina. I adore David Whyte’s poetry.
“…can be sustained over the years only with someone who has repeatedly forgiven us for our trespasses as we must find it in ourselves to forgive them in turn.”
This is so beautiful. I think I needed this – these past few weeks have been hard on a “in real life” friendship front (although what I really mean is, in-person relationships, because I’m no longer sure that ‘online’ isn’t ‘real’). This gives me something to consider. Thank you. <3
I am grateful that you found some solace in Whyte’s words, Dakota. Please check out his longer work, Consolations, in which he writes about different emotions. I find his work compelling.