A relationship can be touchy and no, we’re not talking about the one between a boy and a girl. The one shared between two friends has just as many complicated moments along with the fun. Friends for life or not, the big question is: Would you point out your best friend’s flaws at the risk of hurting his/ her feelings?
It’s a mental conflict many teens encounter at some point or the other and it’s one that has no right answer to. However, more teens say such experiences have made their friendships stronger when handled with tact. "I had a close friend who would never chip in when we went out to eat or took a cab somewhere. She wouldn’t order food for herself and instead, she would eat a bit of everybody else’s meals. It got too embarrassing after a point so I went out to lunch with her one day and I explained what the others were saying about her behind her back. She denied her problem at first but later she felt bad and thanked me for speaking to her about it," says Gaelyn Martins, 19.
Smooth sailing is not always how it goes as not every person has the ability to accept his/ her flaws. "My best friend of two years never kept in touch with me after she left town and every time I wrote to her or texted her, I would never get a reply. I was getting frustrated because I did value our friendship. One fine day, I just told her that she had really changed and that if she was not going to keep in touch, then I wasn’t going to bother either. She got really angry and blamed me for not understanding her demanding schedule. I know it sounds like a couple’s fight but since that revelation, we haven’t spoken to each other," says Smita Kumar, 18.
Nineteen-year-old Stanford D’Souza feels that this whole problem is one that is unique to the female sex. "Only girls go for the round-about way of expressing their feelings to friends. A slap on the back, a funny comment, an exchange of words and we boys are done. There are no hang-ups at all," he says.
So is there a right answer? Apparently not. But if you can’t do it with tact, maybe you need to save your opinion for a rainy day.
Age Correspondent