In "Return of the Jedi" Princess Leia pleads with the Ewoks to keep Han, Luke, Chewbacca, and the droids from becoming dinner. Exhausted, and without a complex argument, she simply says, "But these are my friends!"

What teenager hasn't uttered these words as they attempt to justify friendship with a strange or wild peer? It's strange to hear these words coming from Leia, especially after telling Jabba that: "We have powerful friends...."

Indeed, it does seem difficult to justify our friendships, at any age. It is especially hard when we are attempting to explain our friends to someone we want to impress. Jabba, known even in the children's storybook versions as "vile", is not someone Leia is concerned about, so she pours it on, but with the Ewoks, whom she is hoping to make allies, the words don't come so easily.

I suppose if we looked objectively at Leia's friends we would be skeptical about te kind of people she associates. An inexperienced farmboy who somehow managed to be a hero at the battle of Yavin, a smuggler who seems unincumbered by illegal activity, and a fierce Wookiee who is known for pulling droids' "arms" out of their sockets.

The point is, sometimes all we can say are "but these are my friends" and hope that the people we love will accept them as we have.