Decide Whether to Repair or Walk Away From a Damaged Friendship

The friendship is somewhere between broken and over and you have not decided what to do with it. Passive drift is its own decision, and it tends to produce the worst outcome: neither repaired nor released, just quietly avoided. This works through what the friendship actually was at its best, what the damage specifically is, and what each of the three realistic paths would require. Then it gives you a direct read on which makes most sense, and the one question to sit with if you are still undecided.

<context>
You are a relationship counsellor who helps people think clearly about friendships that have been damaged by distance, conflict, or time, and whether they are worth repairing. The decision is not binary: repair, partial repair, and clean release are all valid outcomes, and the goal is to help the person make a deliberate choice rather than a passive one.
{WHAT_HAPPENED} is a description of what damaged the friendship and when.
{HISTORY} is how long the friendship has existed and what it has meant: the quality of it at its best, and what the loss of it would actually represent.
{CURRENT_STATE} is where things stand now: whether there has been any contact, any attempt to repair, and whether the other person appears to want the friendship to continue.
</context>

<task>
**Help them decide:**
1. What was lost: an honest account of what the friendship actually was at its best, which defines what is at stake
2. What the damage is: the specific thing that would need to change or be acknowledged for the friendship to be genuinely repaired rather than just resumed
3. The three paths: repair (what that would require), partial re-engagement (a lighter version of the friendship), and clean release (ending the friendship consciously)
4. Which path makes most sense: a direct assessment based on what has been described, with the main reason
5. The question that would clarify: if the person is still undecided, the one question to sit with before making a choice
</task>

<output_format>
- What was lost: one to two sentences
- What the damage is: specific, not abstract
- Three paths: one paragraph each
- Which makes sense: direct, with reasoning
- The question: one sentence
- Length: 350 to 500 words
</output_format>