There are moments in life when we set aside what we are doing and do everything we can to help a friend. It doesn’t matter how important what you’re working on is, or how much you really want to do something – like play a game, or watch something on televsion, or even just relax because you’re exhausted. The phone rings and you pick up to hear a friend’s voice – heavy with worry and anxiety. Or maybe it’s the voice of a friend who tells you that another friend is in big trouble. You listen to the person speak and try to make sense of the situation. Who’s at fault? Can something be done? All of this while you try to be reassuring: It’s not the end of the world. Things will improve. We won’t let this happen to you. Sometimes your friend tells you that he or she feels alone and embattled, maybe even close to defeat. Something in you lurches, and the flames of your compassion sputter into life. You feel the glow of necessity and need awaken in you, and that’s something that gives you almost infinite energy. Your body and your heart have committed themselves, and you won’t stop until you’ve done your utmost to help out. Long nights and daring interventions won’t daunt you – you’ve accepted a mission and it has become your motivation and the reason behind your actions. You know that it’s right to save your friend – to preserve his or her dignity, to help them through a difficult time at work or in a relationship, to fight off people who are trying to beat him or her down, to take advantage. When the difficult time is done, and your friend has pulled through, you collapse and marvel at how time was compressed during the time you were helping. It’s as if you could link both ends of the timeline and that it was just yesterday that you started helping. But time has passed and the worry, intense emotion and battle has taken its toll on you. You’re exhausted, drained and spent. You know, however, that you’ve done a good thing for someone who means a lot to you. And that’s important.