Critical Thinking And True Friendship - Essay Example

Critical Thinking And True FriendshipCritical thinking is the ability to think on a higher level. It enables a person to make an informed decision with the use skillful thinking and analogies. It uses rational thinking to distinguish emotions and facts. Critical thinking creates self-awareness, discipline, and open-mindedness in a person (Moore & Parker, 2007). . This enables a person to solve problems using rational resolutions and objectivity. True friends accept each other just as they are forming a strong bond built with love and trust.

They help each other in times of need and stay through thick and thin. Loyalty and guarding each other’s secrets is of high importance and when this loyalty is broken, a lifetime friendship can be broken. Last holiday, I visited my best friend at their house where I was to stay for a whole week. Prior to the visit, I had noted that my friend was behaving weird. He was missing classes and had started hanging out with the wrong group of people. He had begun failing his classes and had a bulk of work that needed to be done but was not even taking time to do.

When I asked him, what is going on he gave me evasive answers. I did not disclose my observations to anyone and I remained silent. A mutual friend had told me that he had seen him abusing drugs and this was just too much for me to believe. Confused and not knowing what to do, I knew that he needed me now more than ever and I had to help him. The visit came at the right moment and I knew I was going to use this opportunity to find out was really going on. In one of the drawers in his closet, I found a pack of cigarettes and alcohol.

I did not approach him immediately and all day I took time to critically think about what approach I was going to use to get him to open up to me. He likes movies and this was going to be my approach. I went to the movie store and bought a movie of a teenager who was abusing drugs and who later reformed after going for counselling and healing. This was in relation to his problem of lowliness caused by the divorce of his parents and his upbringing in a foster home. After watching the movie, he became emotional and that is when I approached him and he finally opened up to me.

His parents were getting divorced and he was feeling very depressed and did not know how to best deal with it. He made me promise not to tell anyone, even his parents about his drinking and I felt bound by my loyalty to him not to do so. A true friend always lets his friend know when they are taking the wrong path in life. I let him know that I understood that what he was going through was hard, but drugs were not the way to deal with his depression. Even though he did not want anyone to find out talking to his parents about the effect their divorce was having on him was the first step.

He was very scared that they would be angry with him, but I told him that I would be there with him and everything was going to be okay. After talking to his parents, they were very understanding and explained to him that they were sorry that their problems were affecting him so much. They made him understand that they had tried to work things out, but they were no longer compatible. They reassured him that they would always be there for him. He is now undergoing counselling and has volunteered to share his experience with kids whose parents are having marital problems.

My decision to help my friend got him to stop abusing drugs and our friendship grew stronger.ReferenceMoore, B., & Parker, R. (2007). Critical thinking (8th ed.). Boston: McGraw Hill.