The symbol of friendship
(updated July 2026)
People often ask me why I wear this paint-covered pair of shorts all summer.
They tell me it looks dirty. Disgusting.
To me, it is not just a pair of shorts.
It is a symbol.
To understand what this symbol means, we need to go back to my last move.
I decide to move into an apartment that needs work:
- walls to repaint;
- a kitchen to redo;
- electrical and plumbing problems;
- and so on.
The amount of work feels overwhelming.
I feel helpless in front of everything that needs to be done.
Alone.
One evening, while having a drink with my friends, I tell them about my new project.
Something unexpected happens.
I am hit by a whirlwind of offers to help.
Not one, two, or five. Dozens of friends come to help me.
I create a group chat to organize the work with them.
The first step is painting.
Yes, the same paint that is now on the shorts I wear every day.
Within a month, everything is done.
Some of them are people I had helped in the past. Others do it simply out of friendship.
I want to keep wearing them so people keep asking me about them. So I can show, once again, the beauty of sincere relationships.
Maybe my symbol of friendship is not as beautiful, fashionable, or respectable as yours, if you have one.
Maybe it makes me look homeless.
I do not care.
But I would not trade my black shorts stained with white paint for anything in the world.
My symbol of friendship.
Do not forget to be there for the people you love.