Friends

Friendship make prosperity more shining and lessens adversity by dividing and sharing it.

Cicero, On Friendship, 44 B.C.
Roman author, orator, & politician (106 BC - 43 BC)

Wondering on the subject on friends recently, i came to realise how greatly influenced we are by the idealistic image of the perfect group of close knit friends whom you share your darkest secrets with and the same bunch of people whom you feel most connected with and can find no replacement for.

It is, to me, a subjective matter and really depends on the individual based on the feeling of a need to be surrounded by a group of friends that you feel imperative to hold on to for life. Based on my own observation so far, aside from the regular family orientated television shows and movies, they almost always feature story lines that center around characters and their need for friendship. It is true that we do occasionally seek out the guidance and connection that you cannot quite get with family, with friends. I suppose if everything were to be shared only within the family, everyone would go crazy.

To me, friends are the people whom we share certain issues with. People whom we share our frustration / joy / sadness or about anything else that we sometimes get the idea that "my family just won't get it".

The usual saying about friends is that friends come and go. Throughout my life, i have experienced friends who have entered my life, inspired me and left me to search for new friendship. I have always had an idealistic idea of a close bunch of friends. I am sure we all secretly do. But i am learning to understand that in life, we are meant to know more people, reach out to different individuals, inspire them and move on with life. Like a give and take cycle of life. Sure, having a particular secured group of friends whom you can identify and share similar values with to hold on to is ideal. But is there really a need to?

I do have good friends. And i am thankful for them and the guidance that they have provided me and i feel extremely blessed. Especially to those that have truly inspired me, motivated me and most importantly, believed in me. Friends like that are hard to come by and that itself, is a blessing. Though i hardly stay in contact with many, especially those in my school years, that's ok. For i know that they have coloured my life in so many different ways that now my world is so much for colourful than i ever thought it would be. Various shades of colours is what i have and i have had friends from almost all walks of life. That is something i am grateful for and to all my friends reading this, thank you! :)

And to answer my own question, No. I don't believe that it is a need to have a particular group of friends to constantly be together with. But it is, wonderful to have various bunch of friends to be connected with! :)

What to do you think?