Food for Thought.

[noobsauces]

The problem with burning bridges completely, is that once that bridge is gone you can never again cross to the other side.

Sometimes even if you believe with all your heart that what you do is the right thing, you have to eat your humble pie. The alternative is the cold hard reality that you may have to lose on your best friends ever.

Comments

[xavier_wp1]

But what if you blow up the bridge? Like on the River Kwai? Can't really say oops in that type of situation right? Any suggestions on that? *g*

[noobsauces]

Actually, to continue the metaphor we're using here. A bridge is built with a sturdy foundation. Even if you bomb the bridge there should be some manner of foundation left, and as long as there is you can always rebuild the bridge. The problem is that it all depends upon how sturdy those foundations are, how they are built in the beginning will decide how durable they are in the end.

So in the end, without the metaphor, I would propose that even if you nuke the proverbial bridge that it can be rebuilt in an 'Oops' situation. It requires just a little bit of patience, a little bit of humility, and a whole lot of work and patience to rebuild from the beginning.

The two biggest issues to make the issue irreparable is: A) Is the person burning/destroying the bridge doing it maliciously or is it a mistake? B) Was the foundation of the friendship built to last or not?

[xavier_wp1]

So you're saying if the friendship had a warranty it will be okay. However if the warranty is expired there could be some major issues.

[noobsauces]

I wouldn't bother calling the factory, for a replacement, yep.

[desolateicon]

Ouch.

[magdellena]

To paraphrase a quote from Firefly, "Sometimes a thing gets broke, can't be fixed..."

[noobsauces]

Geeze, you know that Jayne is a smart kid.

[emilyseal]

I've been in that situation several times and from both sides, frankly. And I think it has much less to do with the foundations of the bridge than it does its method of destruction

[quixoticlies]

Sometimes a bridge needs to be reduced to rubble, the foundation washed away, and a new work-crew to come in and start from scratch, laying a massive concrete-mesh-steel foundation to build a shiny new bridge upon.

I find this to be particularly necessary when one or both people change a good deal, or are trying to change their lives. Making drastic changes to ones life often leaves a lot of things in the lurch, and it hard to resume some friendships where old-reactions and habits are expected, when you're not that person anymore.

[emilyseal]

You posted, and I realized that I missed an entire part of my mass metaphor examination that I had intended to touch upon