When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to
us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or
cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm
and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or
confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can
tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of
our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares. ~Henri Nouwen
