Friends and Friendship

“A friend in need is a friend indeed,” may be an old saying, but it summarizes friendship in as simple a form as possible. Friendship is something we live on, it is what sustains us and keeps us going. The best way of realizing the value of friendship is to ask honestly of ourselves how life would be if every one of us keeps to ourselves and refrains from sharing our thoughts and experiences with others.

The bond of friendship can be very strong if it is real. I say this because we are witness to and also at times experience the withering away of so called friendships when they become inconvenient.

When a person is successful there he has a lot of friends. He is surrounded by “friends” who are ready to do what he says. The same person becomes an untouchable for most of these “friends” when he falls from grace. 

Good friendship flows from a genuine concern for others, a desire to help and, of course, good breeding. It is a bond that is permanent and can be broken only by deceit and breach of trust.

A friend is somebody you can confide in, somebody with whom you can share your joys and pleasures. True friendship is a relationship that knows no barriers and obstacles. It is a relationship that is free from the desire of personal gain. The only benefit one derives out of friendship is a feeling of companionship and trust. It transcends all boundaries of blood relationship. To quote an old saying once again, a friend is “a shoulder to cry on and a smile to lean against.”

Having said all this, friendship sometimes is so close that it becomes blind to life’s demands and even makes one compromise one’s own principles. The best example of such blind friendship is, perhaps, found in the Hindu epic, The Mahabharata where Karan sacrifices his principles and supports Duryodhan knowing that both of them are going to meet their doom. A true friend is one who has the courage to caution and advice when he sees that the other person is doing even at the risk of incurring his wrath.

There is a lot more that can be said about friendships and good friends. A good friend brings a smile to our faces, and we are comfortable in his company. Let us thank nature and Providence that the world is not all about commerce and money. Friendships make this world a good place to be in.