It's A Good Time To Get Rid Of Friends
I don't want to sound harsh, but this is a good time to get rid of some friends.
Because if you're like 90% of the population, you have at least one friend who is no longer talking to you. Maybe a couple of friends.
If you don't, well, congratulations. But this is for the rest of you.
The last year and a half have been challenging. For reasons historians will puzzle out in the decades ahead, the response to COVID-19 has been divisive, often harsh, and usually well out of proportion to the underlying events.
There are likely people you are not as close to as you were just two years ago. Friendships ebb and flow sometimes. That's the way friendships operate. But the normal ebb and flow is not what I'm talking about.
Instead, this is about people who have denounced you or shouted you down over a behavior or stand in the middle of this crisis.
Unacceptable. Friends get angry with one another but what enables the friendship to continue is reconciliation and forgiveness. If a former friend has shouted you down and is now ignoring you, he's not a friend any longer.
(I'm NOT talking about abandoning family. Normal people realize that families and friends are different. There may be family members who are also friends, but either way, normal people do not abandon family except under the most dire of circumstances).
Make sure, of course, that it's them and not you. If you've been a jerk, then take care of it. Contact them pronto, apologize, and seek their forgiveness. Try to repair any damage. Friendships are often hard to make and shouldn't be lightly dropped.
But a friend who has been cruel and feels no remorse is probably not worth your effort. This is not an airport. You don't have to make a departure announcement. But for your own sanity, it's ok to cut someone off. Remove them from your contacts, delete their texts and emails, and go on with your life.
You'll probably feel a little bad doing this. You'll feel like you've turned your back on someone who was important to you. But the reality is that those people are no longer friends. They're someone you have a history with. But it's history and not current events. Shutting that door opens another. And look for that new door. Seek for new friends, and consider this a regrettable but necessary step in your life.