Toxic Friendships

When we hear the word 'toxic' we think of two things: death or a relationship sinking. However, we never think of friendships being toxic and that's where I come in with this writing piece. I hope you really enjoy and learn from it.

Let’s start with saying what makes a good friendship. Well, there are lots of opinions on that, but I think that a good friendship is all about honesty and respect, and when one of those values lack in a friendship, it becomes a toxic one.

I am going to start with an example: Two friends, let’s call them Eloise and Elisabeth. Let’s assume that Elisabeth always gets good grades and Honor Rolls, but her best friend, Eloise, doesn't. Even though she tries her very best, she always gets a bad grade. They always help each other, until one day Eloise starts to get jealous of Elisabeth’s grades, so she copies all her works, she tells people lies about Elisabeth, but in front of her, she acts very kindly. Elisabeth on the other hand never noticed that Eloise was being a toxic friend until they graduated from high school when she caught her lying and talking bad stuff about her to a teacher.

See? All that time Elisabeth didn’t confront her because she trusted her. Jealousy empowered Eloise and she didn’t think, she just acted on her emotions. Situations like this happen especially around the people we spend the most time with, our friends.

As we all know, we are all different, and that is okay... that is actually what makes us special! However, sometimes we want to be like others and by doing this we can end up hurting ourselves, and others too.

Once, I had a very good friend. She was sweet and caring and respectful, but there was a time when she started treating me like an object. She only spent time with me when I went to her, and she talked bad about me to her "new friends." One day, I even told her a real deep secret and she shared it without my permission. Now I am good friends with this person, but I don’t think I will ever forget how this moment affected me.

If a friend you trust and love with your heart speaks badly about you to others, bullies you in a way that hurts you, but they make you believe they don't,  reveals your deepest secrets, and acts like he/she doesn't really like you, then that person is not a real friend, and does not deserve that very important title in your life.

"When you have everything in life, you have friends, when you have nothing, you have true friends."

 

                                                    Oscar Bimpong

By Maria Alejandra Vásquez

5th Grader