I've come to discover that after you grow up and hit a certain age, you'd effectively have to create an entirely new category of friends.
This is especially apparent for me as I work in a club. There's a myriad of different characters accompanied by gossip and stories.
This category of friends I call, "The ones whom you get along with, but their reputations suck total ass."
. The ones who are always respectful and polite to you, but are somehow dicks to others.
. The ones who have gone out of their way to help you out of a situation, but not for others.
. The ones who have proven to be good for it, ensuring that you get your money back, but are in debt to others.
. The ones whom you hear shit about literally everywhere you go, but you don't see any behavior reflecting the gossip.
. The ones who have been exposed on social media for whatever scandals they were embroiled in, complete with screenshots of conversations and even video evidence, but you two don't talk about it and are actively good friends.
. The ones who you heard are cutthroat in doing business and sales, offending and creating enemies in the industry, but you've been somehow taken under their wing and you're learning and gaining tons.
. The ones who have gotten in trouble with the law and you're told to be careful of them because they apparently are not making a change, but you actually feel safe around them all the time.
The list goes on and on.
It's kind of bizarre if you look at it, yet this category of people or would-be friends is extremely real.
Many have been the times I had to say, "Oh yeah, I've heard about him. But we're cool. He's been really nice and respectful to me. I can't fault that for sure."
What do you do about it then?
We just do our best I guess.
We are wary, for we cannot ignore too much hearsay that has been consistent.
We keep a safe distance.
We don't allow money to get involved in the friendship.
We don't judge.
We forgive and believe in the good inside them.
We can talk about it and hear their side of the story.
We see them as human and not the skeleton from the closet.
We continue in peace then.
Nobody is perfect indeed. We can't decide to condemn someone as easily as we did in the classroom when we were kids anymore.