Emotional content alert to this post. Sadly, there are situations that we face where there are no good options – no re-set button, no last minute rescue, but rather having to choose the least bad of whatever options remain. In most cases, these overwhelming crises fall into economic, relationship, and extended medical care categories on the personal level. (I’m not about to get into the global level.) When you have a friend or relative who is facing such a thing, it can be heartbreaking to watch and at times, you may even feel a blast of anger because the individual looks to you to come up with a magical answer, a solution not thought of before and when you cannot, there is a need to lash out. This can be true whether the crisis is created through unfairness, poor choices on the part of the individual in trouble, or a combination of those and other factors. Sometimes the most difficult part is trying not to return the anger or not allow guilt to enter thinking that surely there must “be something” that you can do. Stepping back from a situation and seeking outside counsel might also be practical since most of us can occasionally not be able to see the forest for the trees. However, going back to the first part of this post, there may truly be times when a friend or relative is plunging for a fall and there is in fact, not one thing that will prevent it. Ultimately, all you might be able to do is offer emotional support, because if a portion of an individual’s life is literally coming unraveled, the odds are that they will need a strong shoulder to cry on. In fact, even though I don’t know the origin of this quotation, it may be that, “A friend is someone who helps you up when you’re down and if they can’t they lay beside you and listen.”