Of being a friend

Recently, a string of emails made me think about what it means to be a friend. Not just a Facebook friend, but also a friend as defined by dictionaries as “a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard”.

The dictionaries also describe a friend as (1) a person who gives assistance, (2) a person who is on good terms with another and (3) a person who is not hostile.

A friend is not only someone who gives assistance. Anybody who is not a friend can also do that.

A friend is not a person who is on good terms with you. It is much more than that.

A friend is a person who is not hostile. Not true. A friend can sometimes be argumentative.

I suppose it would really be a stretch of the imagination to think that a friend could be defined so easily.

In one email reply, I wrote, “a friend, who could stand me, would stand by me”. This really is true. We are not perfect beings. We hide behind different masks with our insecurities and our vulnerabilities. The one who can see beyond all that, and still accept us for who we are, is a friend.

I have many friends. In every aspect of my life, I’ve been blessed with good friends. Not just fair-weather friends but friends who have shown their love for me much more than I sometimes think I deserve.

From experience, I know that it isn’t the length of time, the quantity of moments when meeting up or the quality of each happy greeting.

A person become your friend when you dare to show your true self, warts, and all.

As I think of the people in my life, the ones who are my friends, I realise how wealthy I am.

(pics from photobucket)