More than anything, I think it pains me to see a friend make a bad decision. Especially right in front of me. I don't care if it's due to over-indulgence, lack of thinking, or simply bad luck; it hurts to watch. I always want to jump in and change their mind, or distract them. Anything to save them. But I almost never do. I always end up watching them walk away and thinking that it's their life. It is in situations like this that my roommate will step back and say, "It's their hell, let them walk in it." I can't think like that. I would rather turn them away from the hell, or at least walk through it with them if there is no other way. Things never seem to play out that way, though. They end up walking through the hell alone and I am damned to sit and watch them walk away, and then wait for them to come out wronged on the other side. I don't know which is worse, the watching them leave or the waiting for them to return....

Scenario: You're sitting and talking to your friend, enjoying yourselves. A third friend, a girl, comes in and you all start to talk. Soon your two friends are side by side and they decide to head to her room to "talk" because they don't want to disturb you..... All you can do is wait for them to finish and then be there when your friend sobers up and regrets what he did.

Scenario: You are sitting in a bar. Your friend has matched you drink for drink, but is somehow far drunker than you. You ask them to stop, or at least slow down. But they insist on one more round, and you don't try to stop it. They have their shot and begin to dance, twisting their ankle in the process. And by this point they are far too drunk and belligerant to do anything other than follow as they walk all the way home..... You just have to ice their leg in the morning to abate the swelling.

Why do both of those involve alcohol?

Scenario: Two mutual friends are dating each other and happy. One friend is out with you for dinner and has had a hard week; and you sit and watch him light up a cigarette, a habit he promised to break in the relationship. And the next time you see them both together she feels lied to and he feels misunderstood. And not only is the relationship over, but even their friendship is forever severed.

I despise myself for every time I must have done something like that; but even more wish that, whenever a friend opts poorly, that I could take their place.