People in everyone's life play some part of importance. It doesn't matter if they appear only for short amounts of time or if they stay forever. Either way, that person has made an effect (or should this be affect?) on us in one way or another. I myself get to experience this just a much as many other will, but if I have learned one thing about it, it is that these people, no matter how long in our lives, teach us much needed lessons.
To the lifelong friend from high school,
Thank you for the lesson that there is more to friendships than a one way street. To know that a true friend helps to focus not only on his/herself but also on yourself. For all the great advice given, even if I have never listened to it, and for being there even when I am at my weakest. Over the past nine years we have been through enormous trials and tribulations, and we have over came each one by never loosing hope in the friendship that we acquired. A time or two, we hit a bump and went separate ways, but you are the one person who has seen and loved me for my weaknesses and strengths. It has been a trait which I do hope you feel that I have returned, but always a moment in time that I never will forget. The lesson is one which I try to make strive in all friendships that I continue to carry out in this lifetime.
To the first love,
For the lesson of heartbreak and an ever lasting love, I can now thank you. Though many other lessons were learned this is the one that has stuck with me the longest, and it will not wane. Love is an experience that once gotten is the hardest to erase, but the knowledge of heartbreak is an even harder feeling to erase. You gave me the first feeling of that, and though others have followed it was a lesson that only hits the way it had, at it's hardest, the first time. Since, I have been cautious with love and with the chance to get heartbroken.
To the instructor who made a difference without trying,
Without effort, or probably knowledge that you have done it, you have taught me the ever life changing lesson in constant search for knowledge. You opened a world up to me that I had barely known existed and with that the passion for something that will forever be part of my life. I never thought that a person, or class, would ever have such an impression on my life. In your class a whole new interest in things that I did not know grew. It is a lesson that I still search for the end to come, but I have found that forever there will be some new facet to explore.
To the all friends who left,
Thank you for the lesson in honesty. You honesty in not caring for me for exactly the person I am has made me realize that I do not need you, or people like you, in my life to hold me back. If you cannot handle the me that gets down on herself when treated terribly, then you certainly do not deserve all the loyalty and compassion that I would give to you as a friend. For this kind of friendship, I have learned that I will only be crushed by your lack of concern to give back in a friendship. You do treat friendships like a one way street, and in the end, this will be your own loneliness staring you in the face.
To the boss who I left,
The lesson in respect in myself is one that I never would have been able to accomplish without you. With the respect that I have always had for other people, it was not often that I kept any of that respect for myself. What happened in that situation taught me that I need to have that respect in myself because if I didn't people, of all kinds, will walk over me. That pride and respect for myself and the abilities that I know I have has been renewed to full strength, and I can only thank you for it.
To those I have not met yet,
Thank you for all the lessons I can learn from you.
Many other people could have been included in this, but these are the lessons that I feel have shaped me the most for who I truly am today. Obviously, I have no included any family who have taught me some of the most influential lessons, but I wanted to focus on those who were in our lives by choice, not force, who can effect it and leave at their, or your, whims.
