Now YOU Can Have True Friends!

Hi Babe!

I see your face from the stage. You're right there in front, or maybe off to the side, and you're smiling and laughing with me, and sometimes singing along. You're happy when you're with me, though you only get to be there an hour. You're my friend and I wish I could take you home!

You'd like that because I don't think you have enough friends. If you pull at my hair or tear my clothes, then I know for certain that you don't have a boyfriend. And I also know you well enough to say that you're not happy the way you are. You'd like to be more popular! Right?

If you find yourself turning off the lights at night, laying down in your bed and tears welling up in your eyes, big wet pleas for people to care about you, to like you, to be near you so you won't be alone...well, please dry your tears because you have a friend who knows what it means. Me.

I WAS SHY - I used to be so shy that I dreaded going into a room alone. I didn't know how to act to the people. In fact, I avoided people and spent a lot of time working by myself at home, just so I didn't have to be around others. That's why I built that scale model of Disneyland. It gave me something to do alone.

But then I realized that other people were having fun and I wasn't. Other people had friends to care about them and I didn't. They HAD friends and WERE friends. I was neither!

Many nights I stayed at home and tears would pour down the sides of my face. Really...I'm not putting you on. I actually used to sit down and really cry because I was so miserable. I couldn't figure out why someone, anyone, didn't come up to me and say, "Hi, I'm your friend. Come join me."

MUST BE WORTHY - Then I realized something very difficult to grasp when you first hear it. YOU HAVE TO BE WORTH HAVING AS A FRIEND. You have to be a full person, not a little mouse who sits in the corner of the classroom and rarely raises her hand or smiles or talks. People won't dislike you if you do that. They'll simply forget you. That's worse!

It takes a lot of effort from people to DISLIKE you. You really have to do something bad, repeatedly, for the dislike to stick. Chances are, you think you don't have any friends and people dislike you. Really, they just don't notice you or think about you. Change that!

I told you I was shy. Well, I decided I'd change my life. I began to sing...and look where it's gotten me! But at first, it was just my way of getting outside myself so people could see me.

CHANGE YOURSELF - I made a little list for you of ways you can do the same thing:

1. Be kind, honest and tactful.
2. If you can't be beautiful, be well-groomed.
3. Dress tastefully and stay slim.
4. SMILE and TALK.
5. Put all your energy into what you do.
6. Learn to dance, sing or play an instrument.
7. Think for yourself but respect rules.

I WILL NOT BE A MOUSE. I WILL TALK, SMILE AND LAUGH WITH PEOPLE. I WILL GO PLACES AND DO THINGS.

I think the problem with most unhappy people is that they keep to themselves, all closed up like a closet. No one wants to walk into a closet - and likewise no one wants to have a dull friend.

Tears on your pillow will be a thing of the past if you let people know you. But you have to go to them. Don't expect them to suddenly start paying attention to you. You have to lead the way!

You might not even have a chance to write to me once you've gotten out in the world and become a popular person. But I hope you'll try.

Until we're together,

Lots of love,
Bobby