Just be a friend. Okay? Be supportive.

"Just be a friend. Okay? Be supportive." Pheobe said it. You might have seen this episode from FriendsTV show where Pheobe thought her mother's spirit was in a cat.

In this episode, Pheobe, whose mother killed herself when she was young, gets this strong feeling that her mother's spirit is in the cat which was just trying to touch her guitar. Her friends think that she is crazy and she tries to defend her feeling like this:

"Fisrt of all Okay, there's the feeling. Okay, and for another, how about the fact that she went into my guitar case which is in lined with orange felt. My mother's favorite fish is Orange Roughy. Cats like fish."

Her friends kind of ignore her and her weird talks with her "mom". They let innocent lady enjoy her "mom's spirit" until one day they found out that there is this girl who is looking for her cat (Julio). Ross believes that the cat should be taken back to the girl who owns the cat but other friends do not have the courage to take cat away from Pheobe as they believe cat makes her happy.

But Ross cuts to the chase and tells it straight to Pheobe in candid tone that this is just a cat and should be returned to the little girl. This is how their conversation goes like:

ROSS: No! No! Look--Hey, enough is enough! Look, I am sorry that you feel guilty or whatever about spending time with your new mom, but this is not your old mom. This is a cat! Okay, Julio the cat! Not mom! Cat!

PHEOBE: Ross, how many parents have you lost?

ROSS: None.

PHEOBE: Okay, then you don't know what is feels like when one of them comes back. Do you? I believe this is my mother. Even if I'm wrong, who cares? Just be a friend. Okay? Be supportive.

From the moment I watched this episode and heard these words, I wanted to place billboards of this everywhere. People can be crazy at times, they may sound stupid, they might be doing weird things that may affect them and others adversely. But just be a friend? For once, listen to what someone has to say and do not vomit out all the advises you have in your head. Just listen and nod. Be Supportive.

Having said this, I don't mean you let your friends do whatever they are doing and let them cross all the limits of stupidity. Give them some time, use appropriate tone and replace idiotic idea of happiness with sane idea of happiness.

Stay blessed :)