I do not want to be unduely harsh on what my friend Audrey might have been lacking. I believe that allot of whatever I might have felt she lacked was brought on through an unhealthy emotional relationship she may have had with her parents and in how they rewarded her for her successes in life and in school. Much of this impression I held came from talks we would have about her childhood.

The most general description I might give was that she never felt comfortable opening her feelings up to me. I wanted to know that my attention towards was pleasing to her, and that if they were not, then I wanted to change. Her happiness was very important to me! I did not want to add any additional stress to her life than what her parents were already doing to her. I tried to let her know that I did not to hurt her feelings; that I truely liked her for who she was and that I was truely interested in understanding her.

Audrey never initiated any discussioin that could lead into any major debate between us. While she had strong opinions about her belief system that could be best stated as a Humanist religion, she did not like to discuss them to me. When I brought up the discussion of religious differences it was quite clear that neither one of our positions would be convincing to the other.