I am seriously considering cutting off a friend of 22 years.
His mental health issues have led him to maliciously slander groups of people to which I belong. This isn't the first time, and I have talked to him about this before. Yet, it continues.
He has talked about killing himself before, and I have solicited prayer support when he has done that. If I cut him off, that will no longer happen. Neither will he get any further help from me, and he has definitely needed help in recent years. He's on an unsustainable path, he has burned through so much. If I do this, I will be letting him drown in his own toxicity and negativity, and he may end his own life.
Yet, I hesitate because I don't like leaving friends. I was the person growing up who would seek friendships, and not find them, or who would find them only to be betrayed later. The friends I did have were few, and they were not always consistent. I try to be the kind of friend that I wish I had growing up.
Maybe I'm just writing this so that people will pray for us. Maybe I won't do it, but I'm close.