Life is too short to live for other people’s ideas.

They say, If you truly want to know yourself,
look at your five closest friends. Because you are a reflection of the people
you spend most of your time with whether you like it or not, like them or not,
friends can do two things either push us forward or pull us back.

‘Cause you see, as a young basketball player
I never really felt the need to learn how to jump, until all of my friends
started to dunk and as a young student I only really started to get in trouble
in class when all of my friends started to flunk.

Think about it, when you got your results who
were the first people you asked so how did you in English, maths and art
and you know that we always assume that our grades were okay as long as we got more
A’s than our mates.

But when it came to getting into college, did
all of you guys get accepted into the same place?

You see, that’s why I say it’s important to
have friends with benefits. Because if they don’t add to life then they
subtract from it and if they don’t do nothing at all that’s just as bad because
breaking even isn’t an exact profit.

Listen, as humans we look at our surroundings
and learn to adapt to it, so if you surround yourself with bums what do you
expect will be the outcome.

You end up full of shit because life is too
short to live for other people’s ideas and that’s the harsh reality and
whenever I use the term friend I add air quotes because apparently I have
30,000 friends on Facebook, 200,000 on YouTube 33,00 on twitter but when things
hit the fan all they ever did was like my picture.

So wait, am I implying, contrary to popular
belief, that you should only be friends with people that can help you.

YES I
AM.

People that respect your identity and decisions
you choose to make indefinitely, people that can help you grow because true
friends are people that benefit you emotionally, spiritually, mentally and
regularly.

Not a friend that calls you no fun just because
you believe to enjoy yourself you don’t always need to get drunk.

Not one that has sex and laughs at your
virginity because you believe in integrity

Not a friend that smokes, that makes you the
butt of the joke when you’re opposed to conforming although they know you’re an
athlete and understand how it affects your performance.

Not a friend that puts you down 9 out of ten
times whenever you’re in a crowd but then becomes your best buddy when no one
else is around. That’s not a true friend.

But at the same time remember one hand washes
the other before they can both wash the face so before you can expect good
friends you have to learn to be one yourself and that involves having morals
that you stand by and stick to, ‘cause as Malcolm x said ” a man that stands
for nothing will fall for everything”.

So there’s nothing wrong with having friends
with benefits so ultimately both of you can find ways to benefit each other.