The behavior that you had with your friend is the one that parents have with their children: you oriented him, you made him see his qualities, his virtues. That's what real friends do. I believe that many of our fears and our limitations are made by our immediate surroundings. I always say: tell a child that he is intelligent and he will be brilliant; tell a child that he is a brute and you will have cut off his wings forever. We must begin to learn to relate to others, not to see their faults first (Fulano if he is fat, if he is out of shape) but to help that person get ahead and that begins with reaching out, but also with saying a good word to him. Sometimes words can open the bars that kept you locked up. It's always good to read you, poet! Hugs