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so i found this poem in a book i have at home... it's called
Chicken Soup For the Teenage Soul

Please Listen

When I ask you to listen to me
and you start giving me advice,
you have not done what I asked.
When I ask you to listen to me
and you begin to tell me why
I shouldn't feel that way,
you are trampling on my feelings.
When I ask you to listen to me
and you feel you have to do something
to solve my problem,
you have failed me,
strange as that may seem.
Listen! All I ask is that you listen.
Don't talk or do - just hear me.
Advice is cheap; 20 cents will get
you both Dear Abby and Billy Graham
in the same newspaper.
And I can do for myself; I am not helpless.
Maybe discouraged and faltering,
but not helpless.
When you do something for me that I can
and need to do for myself,
you contribute to my fear and
inadequacy.
But when you accept as a simple fact
that I feel what I feel,
no matter how irrational,
then I can stop trying to convince
you and get about this business
of understanding what's behind this irrational feeling.
And when that's clear, the answers are
obvious and I don't need advice.
Irrational feelings make sense when
we understand what's behind them.
Perhaps that's why prayer works, sometimes,
for some people - because God is mute,
and he doesn't give advice or try to fix things.
God just listens and lets you work it out for yourself.
So please listen, and just hear me.
And if you want to talk, wait a minute
for your turn - and I will listen to you.

I was thinking about it and i wonder how many people feel this way...
There are times when ppl do give advice and it is not wanted...
there are times when people just want you to listen
I started wondering how many times i didn't listen to people and just gave them advice...

So... next time i stop listening to someone who only wants me to listen... next time i hurt someone's feelings...
be a friend and give me a good solid whack

True friends are important.
They are true friends because they look out for you...
They are true friends because they support you...
They are true friends because they truly care about you...
They are true friends because you can trust them...
They are true friends because they will stick by you through thick in thin...

I am NOT saying that true friends never have times when they get into fights and all that... but i AM saying that they are there for you when you need them...

heh... there i go again... i'm practically giving advice...