Patrick's Place

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Monday's Morals

A close friend, “Friend A,” invites you to hang out for a few hours early in the day on a Saturday. You already have plans for that evening with “Friend B,” of whom your “Friend A” seems to be particularly jealous. Would you accept “A’s” invitation and run the risk of having to explain your plans that evening, or make an excuse and only spend time with “Friend B?” Why or why not?

Been there, done this. In fact, I've just about given up on mediating these situations. If my friends can't deal with the fact that I have friends they don't really like, tough on them. And for the most part, we are all grown-ups. In fact, Friend A was visiting us this weekend, and Friend B came up in conversation briefly. Oh well.

In this situation, what I normally do is stick to the current moment, as in "Be Here Now." I wouldn't discuss my evening plans with Friend A. I'd just say I had "things to do" and needed to be home by whatever time would give me a buffer zone between the two. If pressed, I wouldn't kill myself lying about it, but I also wouldn't make a big issue out of the fact that I was getting together with another friend in the evening.

This scenario reminds me of the sermon on Sunday; our pastor talked about how it feels to be invited to two parties on the same evening. It was in the context of Herod's birthday party and the feeding of the 5000. Interesting take.