I think we take the relationships in our respective social circles too much for granted. As we get to know our friends better, we find out more about who they are as people. But rarely do we consider the effect we ourselves had upon their development; if we do it is almost never in a direct manner. Recently, several things have caused me to take a step back to reexamine the way I interact with people; to discover the effects of my actions/attitudes/views on those with whom I have close relations. I think we can learn alot about ourselves by doing this. Isn't it truly heart-warming when a friend comes up to you years later and tells you how your words or actions had a positive life-changing effect on them? And isn't it pretty saddening when you find yourself drifting further and further apart from certain people, only to find out that later that you've been unwittingly doing something to hurt them? I think the latter situation happens more frequently than the former for most of us. Because nobody truly cherishes confrontation, inconvenient truths are often pushed under the rug and hidden from view rather than resolved. But the outline of anything pushed under the rug is still visible (the effects can still be felt, the cold attitudes still palpable), even if the object itself is concealed. If we always do this, then pretty soon we'll run out of space to hide stuff under, and the ugly truths and confrontations will reveal themselves whether we like them to or not. And at this point, people get angry, feelings get hurt, and relationships become broken. Why do we do this to ourselves? Why do we do this to others? If we truly care for one another then why is it still so hard to be genuine about sharing our feelings? Why is it so hard to say, "Yeah we should talk" when something's up? Instead, we always say, "No, I'm good, everything's fine". When we get to the point with someone where we can no longer say what we mean, nor mean what we say, our relationship then dissolves into a world of hidden meanings and clandestine motivations. We begin to suspect when we should trust, and we stop giving the benefit of the doubt. I honestly believe that honesty can solve alot of our problems... | 
