What do you do ....

When your friends share different principles from you, those that are moral in nature?

What if those are principles, if held by other people, would hv made you pass harsh judgments?

Should the friendship be a line that I should never cross, so that I could only observe the crime but not step up to the witness stand when condemnation is called for?

On the scales of morality, with each pound of friendship that I place upon its pans - should it lighten the weight of the guilty, or should the guilty bear a heavier burden because of the expectations that I hold him to?

There were times when I had chosen to look the other way, painfully conscious of the inconsistency in the intensity which I believe in my morals and how casually I can choose to ignore them. How else are the worth of my values measured, other than by my actions when I see injustice done?

But.

There were also times when I was looked upon and I was watched. As the waves brought me further away from shore, I chose to give up struggling to see where the currents brought me. When I finally came back ashore, I was always welcomed by the few familiar eyes. Eyes brimming with unquestioned understanding - only the slightest tension in their gaze belie the hypocritical restraint that they had to bear. And I was always thankful each time.