Ascension : News From The Grotto - Thought For The Week
Submitted by The Islander (Shari Parkhill) 20.12.2007 (Article Archived on 03.01.2008)

Here we are, even closer to Christmas. The time seems to be flying by, with all the festivities, and parties. I think it’s a good thing we don’t have shopping malls here on Ascension, because I don’t know when any of us would have time to spend at them!

Third Sunday of Advent

Here we are, even closer to Christmas.  The time seems to be flying by, with all the festivities, and parties.  I think it’s a good thing we don’t have shopping malls here on Ascension, because I don’t know when any of us would have time to spend at them!

This time of a year is a good time to reflect on friendships.  Friends mean so much to us here on Ascension.  As I’ve said many times, I think that in the absence of extended families being with us, we make families out of friends.  We depend on our friendships to sustain us when we are lonely, or having a tough time, or missing an important event in the lives of our loved ones back home. 

Friendships are different.  When we are children, friendship is a concept that develops.  We see the schoolyard antics, someone is friends with so and so today, and tomorrow the dynamics may have changed because we might have perceived a slight.  When we are children, our outlook on life is different, but as we grow, we hopefully learn what is really important in a friendship.  The seeds are already there as children, when you see how a little face lights up when their little friend turns up.  We just need to weed out the false ideals of friendship.

We have friendly acquaintances, good friends, and true friends.  Friendly acquaintances, I’m happy to say, mean most of the people on this island.  Being a remote, closely-knit community, we are sometimes like a large extended family.  We wave to each other when we drive by, we stop to offer a walker a lift, and we have no fear of strangers, because no one is a stranger on Ascension, just someone we might not have met yet.  We met a nice couple from Switzerland recently.  They had been invited to a party, and we took them diving.  They were truly amazed at the friendliness of the people here.  But, how easy is it to be friendly, kind, show someone around, and make their visit even more enjoyable?  We all are enriched by our chance encounters with people from somewhere else.  

Good friends are the people we love to spend time with, to laugh with and to share each other’s lives while we are here.  We all come from different walks of life, and we all have something to offer to a relationship.  I love to find out where people come from, where they’ve lived and traveled, places they have seen and things they have done that I may never get the chance to see or do.  Real friendship doesn’t harbour any envy.  We might be envious in the sense that someone has done something that we would like to do, but it is an admiring envy, and there is nothing malicious about it.  We are happy that our friend has had that opportunity.   

True friends are the dearest friends of all.  They are the people who are there for the good times and bad,  to support us and keep us from falling apart when bad things happen.  They are there to hold us up, and keep us sane.  If we are very lucky, we will have a few of these people in our lives.  We may not be physically close to them all the time, but we know that they are there, and we can call on them at anytime.  They are the ones we call in the middle of the night, who don’t just bring food to your house when a loved one dies, but make sure you eat and keep up your strength.  They are our rock, the very foundation of our lives.  They are the ones who make it possible for us to have faith, and to not lose heart.  They are one of God’s greatest gifts to each and every one of us.

Last week I was interviewed by a radio station back home that has a regular segment on people from the area who are now living and working somewhere else in the world.  The interviewer was fascinated by my descriptions of Ascension, and my life here.  He asked me near the end of the interview if I was lonely.  Without thinking I said no, absolutely not.  Although I miss my family dearly, I am most definitely not lonely.  How could I be, surrounded with wonderful friends?

So to all the friends in our lives, the friendly acquaintances, the good friends, and most of all for the true friends, let us always remember to give thanks for them, and to let them know how much they mean to us.  Let us always have the love and patience to be a friend to others.  Some day someone will need us as much as we might need them.  Our faith will give us the strength to help them.  Faith makes every thing possible.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of my friends on Ascension the very best Holiday season.  Thank you for making sure that I have never been lonely, for sharing your lives with me, and for bringing so much joy and happiness into my life.  You are the best people in the world.  You have enriched my life beyond measure.  And to my true friends, who all know who you are, thank you for being my rock and for supporting me through some rough times.  I couldn’t have done it without you.  God bless.