Now, two caveats. First, the fact that forbearance resides in friendships, in a relationship of mutual well-wishing and care, implies a willingness to endure what the tolerant will not. The forbearing endure some things the tolerant simply cannot bear. Some of these things need not be endured according to the norms of justice, others ought not be, and in each case it5s the character of the relationship sustained by the virtue and expressed in its act that accounts for the difference. Friends endure in each other what colleagues or acquaintances might not precisely because they are friends, and the object of this endurance can be either trivial or not. Suppose my wife, somewhat ragged after a long day at work and somewhat anxious over looming deadlines, comes through the door with sharp words and sour looks, and suppose there is a habit of mutual forbearance between us. In that event, I’ll endure those words and looks and persist in her company for the sake of the friendship we share—out of the love that I have for her and for our friendship, in the faith that this too can pass, and in the hope that, with her help, it will. And note, it’s the friendship we already share that is a portion of the good I wish for her in my endurance of her. But now imagine I receive those same sharp words and sour looks on a regular basis from a colleague at work.