Once upon a time...

...when a Worm and a Beetle were old good friends and they spent long time hanging on together and chatting.

The beetle was aware that his endearing friend, the worm, was very limited in mobility, he had a very restricted vision and he usually was very quiet and passive compared to beetles.

On other hand, the worm, meanwhile, was very aware that his friend the beetle came from another environment. And in comparison to the worms of his same kind, he ate nasty things, he was very fast, he had a grotesque appearance and he always talked very quickly.

One day, the life partner of the beetle questioned to the beetle his friendship with the worm. Asking; how it was possible to walk so much through large distances to go to meet a being so inferior. A being so limited in his movements and why he was still friends with someone who didn't even return the effusive greetings that the beetle made from afar.

But the beetle already was well aware that due to his limited vision, the worm often didn't even see that someone greeted him. And, if he even noticed it, he couldn't distinguish whether or not it has been the beetle and therefore, for the same reason, he not answered the greetings.

Nonetheless, the beetle always opted to remain silent before her claims and allegations so as not to argue with his partner. };)

However, there was so much the insistence of the female beetle and so many were her arguments questioning the friendship that his partner maintained with the worm. That the beetle finally decided to put on test that friendship staying away from the worm for a while and wait that the worm were the one who will visit him instead.

Time passed by, and one day the news came that the worm was dying. Because his organism had resented the efforts he had made every day to go to see his beetle friend. And, as he was incapable to achieve such feat for a whole day. During the day, the worm usually had to return on his own steps to spend the night in the shelter of his own home.

Knowing these recent events, the beetle, without asking his partner, decided to go see the worm.

Along the way, he crossed paths with several insects through the forest that told him of the daily fruitless adventures of the worm in his attempt to go to see his dear friend the beetle. And then, find out what could have happened to him.

They told him how he was exposed
to insurmountable obstacles and immense dangers
day by day to go look for him,
passing near the bird's nests.
And how he survived the attack of the ants, and so on.

The beetle arrived and reached the tree where the worm was laying waiting for the final moment.
And after seeing him at his side, the worm, barely with a tiny thread of life, told the beetle how much he was glad to see that he was well & healthy.

He smiled for the last time and said goodbye to his dear friend the beetle knowing that nothing bad had happened to him.

The beetle felt ashamed for allowing others' opinions to undermine his friendship with the worm. And felt pain for having lost the many hours of joy that the talks with his friend provided him. And above all, for having put him in a situation that caused his premature death.

In the end he understood that the worm, being so dissimilar, so limited and so different from what he was. He was his true friend, to who he respected and loved because, despite belonging to another species, he had offered his genuine friendship.

And so he learned several lessons that day:

1. Friendship is in you and not in others. If you cultivate it in your own being, you will find the joy of the friend.

2. Time does not condition friendships. Neither do races, casts, lineages, nor our own or their own or others' limitations.

3. Time and distance are not the factors that destroy a friendship. What destroy it are the doubts and fears.

4. When you lose a friend, a great part of you leaves with him. The frequent phrases, the gestures, the fears, the joys, the illusions... everything that both shared along the time, will goes with them.

The beetle died shortly afterwards. He was never heard complaining about who wrongly advised him. Simply, because well he knew it was his own decision to lend ears and listen negative criticism about his friend.

If you have a friend, do never question what he really is. Because by sowing doubts you will only reap fears.
Do not look too much in how he speaks, how much he has, what he eats or what he does. Because with this, you will be throwing your trust in ripped & broken bags. And trust me about this next:

• Recognize the true wealth of someone who is different from you. And even so, he's still always willing to share his/her ideals and fears with you.

• I have no doubt the essence of the worm and the beetle became one on the plane beyond this life.

I dunno if you are the worm and I am the beetle, or viceversa, but surely we are different and no doubt we currently move in different planes.

I, me, if even I am a worm, I will keep looking for you day by day. And if I were a beetle, I wouldn't listen to criticisms against you, no matter they could come from wherever they come from.

If I were a worm, I will ignore how grotesque you may seem to me.

If I were a beetle, I will use all my skills to serve you.

"No one has greater love than giving his life for his friends" (JOHN 15:13)

"At all times love your friends, and he is like a brother in times of anguish" (PROVERBS 17:17)

The reason why people give up so fast is because they tend to look at how far they still have to go, instead of how far they have gotten.

"Think like a wise man, but communicate what you know in the simple language of people"

Yesterday I was smart and tried to change the world. Today I am rather a little wiser and I try to change myself.

«-Witness Of Time-»

_{In memory of a great friend of mine who recently passed away.}
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