Song 7

The Story behind “Reaching Out”

Whenever I visited my grandmother as a teenager, I read an unusual quotation on her wall which said, “He is rich who hath two friends.” I pondered that saying for years. As I watched my son and other people who are addicted work on their recovery, I came to appreciate those words. Good friends are more precious than gold.

In recovery, one of the greatest stumbling blocks for people who are addicted is finding good, strong, drug-free friends who can accept them as they are and appreciate what they have been through in their lives. People who are addicted desperately need dependable friends who will walk by their sides and help them as they struggle to become the people they really want to be.

I have seen people who are addicted rejected time after time by so many people, including their own family members, when they were trying so hard to change their lives and reach out for help and friendship.

On the other hand, I have seen people who are addicted reject other people, including their own family members, who were reaching out to them. Their feelings of self-worth were so low and their feelings of inadequacy so high, they couldn’t accept their love.

There’s a risk of rejection any time a person reaches out to another and asks for friendship. There’s a risk of failure any time a person invests time and energy to try to make a friendship real. But with every risk, there’s an opportunity--the opportunity that the friendship might just work this time--and create a bond that will heal both body and spirit. This opportunity makes it worth the risk.

Looking deep into my son’s heart, I wrote this song as a fervent plea to everyone. If you need a friend, go find one. If you see someone who needs a friend, be one. A person doesn’t need a hundred friends--having one or two will do, including those who are within your own family. “He is rich who hath two friends.”

Reaching Out

When you reached out to me today,

I turned around and walked away.

I knew that we could never be true friends.

Why would you want to be with me?

What can you even see in me?

My life has been a series of dead ends.

Your life has always been so good.

You’ve always done just what you should.

You’ve always walked that straight and narrow line.

Although you’re what I want to be,

Why would you take a chance on me?

Why would you ever want to spend the time?

I never thought I had much worth.

It seems I’ve messed up since my birth,

But in my heart I know I’ve really tried.

I now have nowhere else to go.

How can a person feel so low?

Somehow I’ve got to put my past aside.

If you’ll reach out to me again,

I’ll fight my fears and I’ll let you in.

I know I need a friend who will not bend.

If you will take a chance on me,

Perhaps I’ll be who I can be.

I know that all I need is a true friend.

If you will look inside my heart,

I’ll do my best to do my part

As we walk along the path of life as brothers would.

Although we’re not the same

And some differences remain,