A story, once

A story once unfolded of a man, wise in his years met a young boy while travelling the shores of the land. The young man helped the older get up from where he lay after he had tumbled over a few outlying rocks that lay in his path. The old man quickly took a shine to the boy, for he could see within the boy a mirror of himself when he was that age, full of life and vigor, strong and yet unsure of himself. So they travelled side by side, and the boy quickly learned that the answers his questions got was not always clear at first, but later became reality when he thought long and hard enough about it. Thus it came to pass that one day the boy, who was nearing the age of becoming a young man himself, sat down on the shore overlooking the grey ocean, his mind as troubled as the clouds blocking the sun. The old man stopped and turned to his travel companion, a frown on his face. 1

'Why do you stop boy?' the old one asked, standing in front of the other. 2

'Through our travels we have said many things, and sometimes we laughed, and sometimes we shouted in anger, this troubles me. I cannot understand why you would do such things.' the boy answered, 'I feel no urge to travel with you anymore' 3

The old man stood his ground for a moment, and then hunkered down, grabbing a hand full of pebbles in his hand he stood up and walked over to where the water met the land. With a sharp movement he threw the stone and watched as it hopped along the surface before landing in the water. 4

'Life my boy, can be a mysterious thing, and people who act around you can even be a greater enigma.  All younglings like yourself are as a stone thrown upon the water, sometimes you rise up, but fall down again. Then you meet the water with force and for a second there it is chaos, but that meeting, while turbulent, rises you up again. And so the cycle continues until finally, when you have finished your flight, you sink into the ocean to join those who have gone before you. At the times when you was the most saddest, you were like the stone falling. And the times we clashed, you were meeting the water, me. But from those times of anger you arose again. And so it continues.' 5

The young man looked the older one in the face, 'and this is how it will always be between us?' he asked, a look of sadness on his face. The prospect of living such a life was not one he wanted for himself. 6

'Always between friends yes. Because you see, what use is a friend, a companion, if he is only there to give you joy? Would you rather not suffer at the hands of someone you know cares about you, than suffer at the hands of someone who doesn't know you at all?' 7

The boy thought about this for a moment, and then nodded. 8

'But you give me more pain than a stranger would, why is that better?' 9

The old man smiled, his face lit up by the dying sun as the clouds moved in from the horizon. 10

'Because while a friend can make you feel deep sorrow, he can also give you the greatest of joy. No stranger can do that for you.' 11

But the boy answered back, 'and yet I hate you for those times.' 12

The old man was quick to answer, 'and I hate myself for them too, but I understand their worth. Look not at what a friend can do for you,  but what you can do together. Because in the end, the only friends that remain are not those who only stay in times of joy, but also stay in times of pain and suffering. And that is why I have stayed with you through your times of anger, even when directed to me, because I care.' 13

The old man held out his hand, 'now come my young friend, our journeys are not yet finished.'14