What quality do you value most in a friend?
Not all acquaintances are friends, and not all friends are bosom friends. You may have many companions, yet soulmates are rarely found.
Loyalty is what I value most in a friend.
For personal growth, for a healthy and reciprocal relationship, loyalty is paramount. It establishes trust, devotion, and steadfast support—a precious quality of life. However, loyalty must serve the right cause, for blind devotion is nothing but destructive.
Through years of experience, I have come to appreciate that an enemy can become your best friend—your greatest ally. As the saying goes: Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated.
Expecting loyalty from others must begin with being loyal yourself. And when a former foe surrenders his loyalty to you, turning into a true friend, loyalty reaches new heights.
My poem, “Foes and Friends Make Me,” may mirror a person’s inner self. May it instil in you a desire for the rarest charm in humanity.
“Foes and Friends Make Me” ✨
No friends brings loneliness, but no foes more so.
More friends don’t make joy grow.
Fewer foes leave the strong alone.
Used to bland taste, a spicy bite now and then, jolts the tongue awake again.
Good friends make a person lazy,
Foes keep the strong one keen.
“If Zhou Yu lives, why must Liang be seen?”
Missing one, the other feels the void between.
Friends who don’t lead to sloth, foes who do no harm—
That is the rarest charm.
Both friend and foe—that truly is my being.
✨✨💖 ~
en yan hua fang 