Friendliness

Sociologists claim that human as social beings need friends. People need someone to talk to and to associate with. Life without friends is like sailing on a deserted ship. No one wants to live alone. The history of friends and friendships can be traced way back to the first man and woman. According to some beliefs, Adam and Eve were friends first and indeed they were best of friends.

In today's world of globalization where competition to make better living is rife, there is little time to really meet people and have real friends. Everyone is rushing somewhere, everyone seems to be busy and almost everyone does not have time to get to know a person. One may have plenty of casual acquaintances but true friends are difficult to find.

True friendship is difficult to define. The essence of true friendship is the will to share. While we cannot live in isolation, we cannot have everything for ourselves too. Nature has given us an abundance of resources. These resources must be shared. True friends must have the will to share certain things if not everything. The practice of giving and sharing must be sincere. There is no remorse or regret. True friends expect nothing in return.

True friendship is being there when you are needed most. The commitments of friends are often tested during crisis. A friends may be the first person to be called for helped. If he fails to respond to that distress call without any rock-solid reason, then the bond of friendship is broken. True friends must be willing to help even though it means sacrificing certain things or exposing oneself to certain risks. So long as the call for help is genuine and the means to help are legal, then true friendship must be based on a mutual commitment to support each other and being able to deliver when help is needed.

True friendship is giving moral support and other forms of spiritual support. More often than not, a friend just needs a shoulder to cry on. The fact that friends are often together during certain crisis proves that mere physical presence can carry weight. Moral support can often boost confidence while the spiritual touch can take one a long way when dealing with sorrow, depression and illness. Pure friendship is often based in the pillars of spiritualism. The principle of" belief in God" often makes friendship last for longer periods of time.

True friendship is about giving and not taking all the time. Some friends do take advantage of others. Friendship is sometimes used to benefit one party. When this happens, there is bound to be anger, frustration and misery. No one person can give all the tome. There is a time when the limits to a friendship are tested and if the elements of giving and taking are absent at the particular time, that" ship" will not float for long.

True friendship is accepting one as he is. A friends does not ask to be changed or to change. However, if there are undesirable traits among friends, then it is the responsibility of friends to help change that friend to a better person. Bad habits die hard and changing those habits need a little time. There is a need to be patient and to lend a hand to any friend who need assistance.

Most of all, friends must be genuine and any pretentious acts must be done away with. True friends communicate with each other truly and frequently. While there may be a need to get together often, friends must also be given some form of privacy so as not to suffocate them and hinder them from living their own lives.

~Khai Sing~