How Do You Define Friendship?

                        

Claiming someone as a friend is a pretty high honor.
Friendship places certain expectations that can be difficult to live up too.
How do you define friendship?

When I looked up the definition of the word friend I found it to mean someone who has affection towards another; someone who is supportive, sympathetic and shows compassion.

Take a long look at the “friends” around you.

Do they fit the true definition of the word friend?

We all may have varying opinions of what the term friendship consists of but we all might agree that we had the fortune of having this person or persons come into our lives at the right time.
You might have shared your formative years together from grade school through high school.

Friends come and go
One thing is for certain people will come and go through your life as time moves forward.
Some friendships end at that fork in the road as we take different paths.
These paths may consist of going off to college or the arm forces and other life changes.

I like to think of life being like a long bus ride and at some point during the course of that ride you are going to pick people up who will ride along on the journey with you; however there may come the time when you will have to stop and let them off the bus, at their stop you might say. 

We may experience some life phases and some life changes but real friendships have a true bond that can sustain through the test of time. You journey along different paths and find they come full circle. True friends may go days or months in some cases a year with contact but when they pick up the phone and call it's like you have never missed a beat.

It is that very bond of friendship that helps you survive the struggles and makes the jubilant times that much more enjoyable.

Take a look back at some of the most critical times in your life think about who was there to share your joy or help ease your pain.
There's a good chance that someone is still a good support base in your life.

I’m sure you’ve heard the saying “I know you like I know the back of my hand”.
That means you know the core of a person. You know their character. Character makes us who we are as a people and once you choose to accept and respect the good and the bad in a person you have the makings of what true friendship means.

You might have an idea about a person but does that clarify them as being a friend?

I might be friendly with someone at work but that does not make them my friend it makes them someone I work with.

You learn real quick spending enough time with someone whether it is at work or school etc. if they are trust worthy.
They only seem to be interested in asking questions about you but offer very little about them in return. They feed you just enough to know of them but not anything of substance that shows their true character.
There is really nothing you can identify with.

Like anything of value friendships take time to develop.

Now some friends might argue that they hit it off right away but as I mentioned before about looking back; I bet if you were to explore a little deeper into their friendship you would discover certain events in time; events that solidified the relationship.

We’ll label them as defining moments or acts of trust.
I bet you could tell anyone what it was about your friend that proved to you they had your back and vice versa.
Think about it. What is it about your friends that keep you being friends to this day?
By giving your friendship to someone you are entrusting yourself to that person emotionally, spiritually and in the physical sense. It only stands to reason that you should really know a person before you bestow the honor of calling them your friend.

Friendship is indeed an honor
It’s an honor to both give and receive the bond of trust and honesty that comes with it. A friend is someone who is not afraid to be honest with you and will tell you when something is cool or that you need to check yourself or the situation at hand.

They’re the person who will stand up for you against anybody.
They’re the best man or maid of honor at your wedding and if they are not the best man or maid of honor they don’t trip about it.
They adapt and adjust.
They get in where they fit in because it’s not about them it’s about you and yours.
Beware of those who are petty and jealous yet claim to be your friend.

Lastly a Friend is the person who will stand over you when that time comes and tell all in attendance about the journey of your life and how you lived. They will express with honesty, truth and real emotion how fortunate and grateful they were to have the honor of calling you their friend.

Friends, how many do we truly have?

Take the time and sit down to think about your “friends”. You may come away with a new perspective with the discovery that when it’s all said and done you can count said “friends “with a peace sign.

Written By: Larry D. Miller

Larry D. Miller has over 20 yrs in the field of crisis intervention as a call center supervisor for
a national crisis hot line.

You can find him online at his book's facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/pages/How-to-cheat-and-not-get-busted/115333998547614?ref=hl) his blog http://larrydm.blogspot.com or his Twitter page (https://twitter.com/LarryDWWilf)