BATTLE OF THE FRIENDS!!!

One bright afternoon, in a large and slightly confusing museum, the staff had a brilliant idea. “Well,” said one employee, “people keep complaining they can’t see the back of the antique vase.” “Easy solution,” said another. “Let’s put a mirror behind it.” “Perfect,” said a third, who had already mentally gone on lunch break. So they placed a beautiful green antique vase in the corner of a room, with sunlight shining dramatically over it like it was auditioning for a movie. Behind it, they placed a mirror so visitors in the next room could see the other side of the vase. On the vase was a carved dragon. But here’s the problem: from one side, the dragon looked like it was running down the body of the vase. From the mirror side, it looked like the dragon was sliding down the neck. Enter Person A, who stood admiring the vase from the front. “Wow,” Person A whispered dramatically. “Look at that dragon running down the vase. Incredible.”

Meanwhile, in the opposite room, Person B stared at the reflection. “Wow,” Person B whispered equally dramatically. “Look at that dragon sliding down the neck. Incredible.” Because the museum was enormous, confusing, and also because both people were a little tired and slightly lazy, neither bothered to walk around to check the other side. They simply admired the vase and went home. Later that evening, while walking through the market, the two happened to cross paths. Person A gasped. “Oh my gosh! Did you see that green vase with the dragon running down the body?” Person B blinked.“What dragon running down the body? The dragon was sliding down the neck.” Person A frowned. “No, it wasn’t.” Person B crossed their arms. “Yes, it was.” “No, it wasn’t.” “Yes, it was! "Soon they were arguing like two people who had both watched the same movie but somehow remembered completely different plots.

Eventually, Person A stormed off angrily and found some friends. “You won’t believe this,” Person A said. “Some guy in the museum thinks the dragon was sliding down the neck. Obviously wrong. "The friends gasped dramatically. "That’s ridiculous,” one said. “Completely ridiculous,” said another who had never even been to the museum. Meanwhile, Person B had also gathered friends. “You won’t believe this,” Person B said. “Some person thinks the dragon runs down the body.” The friends gasped again. “That’s impossible,” said one. “Clearly impossible,” said another who had also never been to the museum.

Soon both groups marched to the town square to settle the matter once and for all. In the middle-stood Person A and Person B, surrounded by their loyal supporters. "You’re wrong!” shouted one side. "No, YOU’RE wrong!” shouted the other. "You don’t even understand art!” “Well, YOU don’t understand dragons! "Within minutes, the argument turned into shouting. The shouting turned into pushing. The pushing turned into a full chaotic brawl. All because of a vase. Meanwhile, a quiet passerby who had seen the whole thing unfold simply stood there watching the chaos. “What fascinating creatures humans are,” the observer muttered. After the crowd finally dispersed with some spotting wounds and redded injuries, the observer calmly walked back to the museum to see the vase. He looked from one side. Then he walked to the other room and looked through the mirror. He nodded. “Well,” he said, chuckling, “this is awkward.”

Because from one angle, the dragon did run down the body. And from the other angle, the dragon did slide down the neck. Both were right. But none of the dozens of arguing friends had bothered to walk five minutes to the museum to check. The observer shook his head and said: “I shall call this… The Battle of the Friends.”

The Lesson

This story reminds me of when I was younger. Back then, everyone wanted to be popular. Being popular meant having a lot of friends, supporters, and people who would immediately jump into any argument on your behalf — whether they understood the situation or not. Whenever a disagreement happened, nobody really stopped to investigate what actually happened. Instead, both sides would immediately start recruiting friends like it was some kind of emergency draft. “Bro, I need you on my side.” “What happened?” “Doesn’t matter. Just stand over there and look angry. "And if you said something reasonable like, “Wait… maybe you’re wrong,” they would look at you with pure betrayal and say, “Wow… I see how it is. You’re not a supportive friend.” So naturally, most people just picked a side and hoped for the best. Eventually the situation would get so chaotic that we had to bring in one neutral person — the brave soul who had to listen to two completely different versions of the same story and somehow figure out what actually happened. Looking back now, I realize something funny.

Now that I’m older, I actually have more friends… but I also have less energy. As an engineer, I sometimes wonder how people manage to maintain huge social circles. Socializing can be exhausting. After talking to people all day, my brain feels like a phone battery at 3% with no charger in sight. Meanwhile some people seem to maintain 200 friendships, 14 group chats, 3 birthday dinners, and a weekend brunch schedule. I’m just sitting there thinking,

“How are you all doing this? Is there some friendship management software I didn’t install?”Maintaining friendships actually takes time and effort, which made me start asking a different question: What is the real point of friendship?

A good friend should support you, have your back when things are tough, and also tell you when you’re being completely ridiculous. But if people are just collecting friends like Pokémon — “Gotta catch ’em all!” — just to look popular or cool, then I start wondering: What do those friendships actually do for you? What do those people really bring to the table? Because in the end, friendship shouldn’t just be a crowd you summon whenever you start an argument. It should be someone who says,“Hey… before we start a war in the town square… maybe we should just go back to the museum and look at the vase.” Someone who can tell you the truth and give you self-reflection or maybe I am just too logical. What do you think? Correct me please