Not raw, but medium rare

Here's a seemingly simple question: how do you go about treating someone you care about?

Recently I started asking myself if I knew which of my friends truly cared about me, not because I'm paranoid about my relationships and have a hard time trusting people, but because I believe that there are some people in every person's life who are temporary, and won't be there with you through thick and thin. It's inevitable because of the amount of people each of us are aqcuainted with, and I know I have friends that I also care very little about. Come on, it's simply selective perception, and I know too many people to have to worry about all of them.

So which ones are the keepers? Does it even matter?

Maybe it doesn't benefit anyone to know which friends are the good ones and which are the "duds", but it matters to me because it's important for me to know how to treat the people I care about, so that the people I love know I'm sticking around.

...Ok, basically, I'm just tired of wondering if people mean it when they say they care about you, or if it's just a conditioned response, because when they mean it, it's safe to let your guard drop, and when they don't, it's a risk.

So how do you treat people you care about?

-Mandie Pies