Lean On Me

Someone once said, ~True friends are the people who are there for you unconditionally. They are the people who never question you and support you no matter what the circumstances are. They are the people worth living for.~ Without a doubt, having the support of your friends is considered something not only very valuable, but oftentimes it's important as well. For its easy to say each of us have friends who will not only be there for us through thick and thin but will also be truly supportive in every way. However, how many of you can admit with 100% surety you have a strong friendship with someone or a group of people who you know without a shadow of a doubt he/she/they will be at your side and be that unwavering mental, spiritual, and most definitely emotional support system when you needed it the most.

Let me ask you this question, have you ever been in a situation where you found yourself going through a mental breakdown of sorts and a friend took the time to talk things over? I think we can all agree that throughout any given day or week for that matter we all can be so mentally exhausted it's difficult to keep focused on certain professional, as well as, personal tasks at hand. For it's a tough situation indeed to mentally psyche yourself up in order to either begin or finish work that can be in your own mind considered overwhelming. It can, in some aspect, be like climbing a mountain. Yet, it's nice to know that you can rely on the support of your friends as he/she/they have this uncanny ability to be a mental motivator by calling you or stopping by for a visit to give a much needed pep talk.

Proverbs 24: 5 says, 'A wise man is strong, yes, a man of knowledge increases strength; for by wise counsel you will wage your own war, and in a multitude of counselors there is safety.' It would be safe to say that we live in a world where there are many temptations that will inevitably lead us in the wrong path. For its those friends who attain the spiritual wisdom to help guide us not only by going through key scriptures in the bible in making the best decision possible when there is a battle within our mind, heart and soul, but also through fervent prayer for us as well. Thinking about it, having that support by way of prayers or encouraging words of scriptures shows how much your friends truly care about you when it pertains to our spiritual walk with God.

Let me ask you this question, who does a better job when it comes to being emotional supportive...men or women? Women, more so than guys, are more emotionally supportive/sensitive as they are for all intents and purposes in tune with how their girlfriend feels, which can be seen by the sympathetic/empathetic tears shared together. It's truly amazing to see the bond women have when something such as a bad breakup can not just bring one woman, but several women to tears. You see, even though they may have warned her about that particular guy to the point of a heated argument it's those same gal pals who will be at her side ready to talk, share uplifting words, eat an assortment of comfort foods together and quite possibly harsh words for the guy in question.

In retrospect, true friendship and support go hand in hand and each one of us are lucky enough to have the supportive friendship of someone or a group of people who will strengthen you when you are physically, mentally, spiritually, and even emotionally weak. It's that strength that can most definitely help you through the worst of times as you experience events in your life so painful you think about throwing/want to throw in the towel. Let me tell you something, how many of you can count on your fingers the number of friends who have supported you in ways that left you appreciative to where you became speechless for what he/she/they did for you. In the end, it's from the support of your friends you've leaned on during the toughest of times that you can say to them it goes both ways as you know you can always lean on me, which is a classic song by Bill Withers that best reflects this thought.

Go For The Gold

Mary Lou Retton once said, For athletes, the olympics is the ultimate test of worth.~ On 8.8.08 the 29th Olympic Games opening in the city of Beijing, China and despite starting off on a bad foot, so to speak, with the unfortunate death of the current coach of the U.S Men's Volleyball team and former Olympian's father in-law at the hands of a chinese citizen it hasn't diminished the stellar performances that have happened so far in the past two weeks of competition. A competition where many athletes from around the world not only are proudly representing their country as the absolute best in their particular event/sport through hard work and determination, but also set their sights on winning the richest prize in the game...an olympic gold medal. Let me ask you this question, what has been the highlight for you so far as you watched the olympic games?

Without a doubt, the opening ceremony is truly a sight to behold, giving the host city a chance to show the spectacular grandeur of what they're all about as they share their deep rooted history in the process. When it comes to the city of Beijing, they utilized the greatest resource they had in order to give the world a performance we would never forget and that resource is their people. You have to admit, when you witnessed the chinese characters being formed in such flowing precision you would have thought it was done electronically, but in reality it was done by precise teamwork of its people. Yet, the most memorable highlight other than the 4 year old earthquake survivor walking out with Yao Ming, came when lighting the olympic torch as China's former Olympain Li Ning "flew" around the aptly named Bird's Nest inevitably sending a strong message to the other countries.

The title of the world fastest man in the 200M can now be claimed by Jamaican Usian "Lightning" Bolt as he beats Michael Johnson's world record with a time of 19.30. It's a record that hasn't been beaten since Michael Johnson established the time of 19.32 as the proverbial benchmark that was set for other runners to reach for. As we all witnessed you watched MIchael Johnson reaction to Bolt reaching it with a seemingly strong confidence bordering on arrogance to where each race he was in produced a gold medal was in all intensive purposes a cake walk. It just befuddles the mind how fast one can run when you put your all into it and leave everything on the track. You have to give credit to a man that even though gives off a cocky attitude, he can back it up by showing his utter dominance leaving his competitors eating his dust, in a manner of speaking.

For the question can be asked, do you consider Michael Phelps the greatest pure athlete of all time? One can argue that dubious distinction and yet you have to agree Michael Phelps winning 8 gold medals with world records in 7 of them essentially surpassing Mark Spitz 7 is an accomplishment that may not be broken for quite some time. However, the road to 8 had some considerable challenges, one of them being in the 4 x 100 meter relay (2nd race) as a man named Alian Bernard of France said and I quote 'The Amercians? We are going to smash them.' It's a quote that he would later embarrassingly eat to the point of becoming speechless as he was beaten just barely by Jason Lezak who kept Phelp's quest for 8 alive. Let me tell you something, the 100 m Butterfly(7th race) was a fight to the finish and it was, in my opinion, an unbelievable race somehow narrowly beating out the Serbian-American swimmer Milorad Cavic.

In retrospect, this year's olympics have been worth watching to the point people like myself are invested so much I stay up all hours of the night losing sleep to watch events such as Beach Volleyball, Track and Field, Men/Women Gymnastics, Fencing, Ping Pong, and other events. Olympic athletes like Misty May-Treanor, Kerry Walsh, Michael Phelps, Aaron Peirsol, Jason Lezak, Phil Dalhausser, Todd Rogers, Dara Torres, Natalie Coughlin, Jenny Fitch, Nastia Luken, Shawn Johnson, Laura Wilkinson, Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Jason Kidd and many others have represented the United States proudly. For its those same olympic athletes that have become fans themselves as they showed their support of their fellow Americans like Michael Phelps. In the end, The United States went to Beijing to go for the gold and so far they've lived up to not just our expectations, but their own as well.