She Gives, They Take, and Who Ends Up With the Wallet Ache?

It's a rare day when you're asked to examine the meaning of friendship and the spirit of giving all at the same time. I mean, it's a lot to handle for the old noggin. It's being asked to think deeply, philosophize, and ponder...all during summer vacation? Pardon me, vacay? And just when you thought you left your pal Sigmund and his compadres Montagine and Herr Nietzsche behind.

So, Alisha, my sweet, sensitive, emotional lug of a twin, has a problem. She feels it her responsibility, no, duty to constantly pick up her friends' slack, which includes, and is not limited to, paying for her friends (all the time!), doing THEIR homework, running THEIR errands, and any other favor she can think of. Give. Give. And More Give.

I'm not trying to be cynical or anything. I am totally into the whole spirit of giving! It's right up there with the spirit of kindness, the spirit of cooperation, even the spirit of...of...the spirit of St. Louis, for pete's sake!

I liked this one idea that was written on the inside of a journal I picked up at the bookstore. Friendship is like a checking account. You put some in, and you take some it...it's the fundamental philosophy of the Friendship Account. Well, so I believed. For Alisha, friendship is an eternally one-sided affair. Even I love paying for my friends and buying them gifts, but not every single moment of my life. And when you start realizing that you keep giving, but getting nothing in return, you start to feel a tad sad, lonesome...pathetic, even? I believe a true friend would notice the lovely things you're doing for her, and then, out of the love she feels for you, reciprocate. Because friends do things for EACH other!

I'm actually worried about what she's going to do when the time comes for us little birdies to fly out of the nest for the big collegiate world. A world of mystery, wonder, and eternally empty wallets and bank accounts. I can just imagine her paying for her friend's meal with the $25 she needs to get through the rest of the week...and then she's forced to eat Top Ramen from plastic cups and beg for spare change the rest of the days. Ok well, since I'm not cynical about being generous, you can say I'm cynical about the whole "college experience". But that's a post for a different time.