one brick at a time...

in Poe's short story, "the cask of amontillado", montresor tricks his friend fortunato into going into the crypts where he walls him up alive. the cause of his hate grew over time, leading him to this point, but he never let fortunato know--"I continued as my wont, to smile in his face".

in relationships, we often do a similar thing--allowing things to come between us, building up a wall one brick at a time until finally, the person becomes dead to us. we take offense, one brick. we run away from a tough situation, another brick. we don't tell the person how we really feel, yet another brick.

sometimes, we build the wall secretly, still smiling in the supposed friend's face while all the while laying bricks until, suddenly, the friend is staring at a wall, at a broken friendship.

it takes bravery to not lay bricks, to tear down the ones we have already laid, and to walk in transparent honesty, to forgive.