High School Drama Files: Episode #3 - Friends First

Teenage self:
"I'm almost at the top of the well, almost freed from the pits of hell that has kept me sad and depressed for far too long. I'm almost free...I can feel it, the power of success, the warmth of salvation, the heavenly breath shining down on me...But as I sit here, just a couple arm stretches from the top, I can still hear them, the cries of my friends, my comrades, still struggling to make their ascension. I can hear their pain, their anguish, their cries for mercy...And I cannot help but feel their pain, I cannot help feeling guilty that I have made it so far, and they have not. I now sit at the threshold, the crevice of choices...divided. Save yourself, or save your friends...Hold on guys, I'm coming..."

29 year old self:
It's getting harder and harder to write about what appears to be the same shit on a different day.  FEEL ALL THE ANGST!  But seriously, it's kind of boring to rehash the same melodrama over and over again.  However, this one was less "I both love and hate love and relationships" and delved into one of my other high school priorities: friends.  I have and continue to always put the needs of others before my own.  It has always been a trait of mine to want to make others happy and do anything in my powers to help a friend out.  Need more proof that I've been this way since high school?  How about another "excerpt from the Code of Jerm"

Teenage self:
An excerpt from The Code of Jerm:
Friends come first. Their feelings, their happiness, their safety. Friends first, Jerm second. Do whatever you must do to protect these things. Protect their feelings at all costs. Save them from pain, suffering, and commit self-sacrifice of your own feelings if needed. Take their pain, make them comfortable. Protect their happiness. Make them happy when others continue to make them sad. Give them hope, faith, and return their smiles. Eliminate all threats to their happiness. If you witness a hostile act, you will respond immediately. You are their shield from harm, from pain, from suffering. Take the hits. Do as you must. Save them. Be there for them. Most importantly - be their friend.

29 year old self:
That's some pretty heavy stuff.  Looking back now, I don't really know where I come up with things like this.  Though I can honestly say that even to this day, I will still abide by that code for my closest of friends.  I guess some things never change.