Everyone has a flaw or two. Everyone. A good friend is someone who sees your flaws, forgives them, and turns them around so that they're strengths.

She thinks she does nothing with her life because she has no education or career. A friend doesn't see that. Instead a friend sees that she's cautious and won't settle for just anything; that she refuses to give in and do something she isn't inspired to do wholeheartedly. This makes her pure and true to herself; which is virtuous.

She thinks she's stuck in a rut. A friend sees it as patience. And patience is a virtue. A virtue her friend admires enviously, and wishes for some compassionate guidance in developing.

Is she guilty of always mooching off whomever she lives with? A real friend wouldn't accuse her of that. Her friendship is worth more than rent money. And her own sincere feelings of guilt are enough to prove that she's not one to take advantage of people.

Is she stupid for making stupid mistakes? For calling herself a geek girl and arrogantly referring to her use of shells, and yet continuing to look dumbfounded when you try to explain what tcsh is? No. A friend just sees her mind is elsewhere. And the brief lapse of intelligence is endearing, for it affirms that yes, she is in fact human somewhere beneath all of the perfection she typically presents to the world.

I have a fragile heart. That's my flaw. It shatters easily, and I lose all sobriety and clarity when that happens. It's not fair that I'm able to see past a friend's flaws and turn them into virtues, and then have that same friend discard me for my one flaw. Especially when my one flaw provides yet another opportunity to show flattery. And I need a friend to help me turn the pain into joy by encouraging me not to harden up and lose my soul. To help me put a positive spin on my pain, and see it as a virtue that I'm still not too jaded to love other people. But it's not fair. She just won't do that and return the friendship I've always tried to show her.