Friendship
Friendship is a bond of love and esteem which binds two persons usually unrelated by blood. It is a priceless possession of man which imports sweetness to life. It is a blessing, a few of us have been favoured with. A friend is a gift from God, because a real friend is a real fortune. Friendship brings bundles of joy. Man is a social being and by instinct seeks companionship of others. In our journey through life we meet countless people, but with everybody we do not make friends. That is because the essential condition of friendship between two persons is affinity of mind, tastes, temperament of pursuits. The few in whom we discover the affinity we make friends with and they carve out an abiding place in our hearts.
Our life is short. There are few moments of happiness, while the periods of worries and miseries are long. Friendship brings the balm to the worried. It brings sunshine in the dark life of sorrow. A friend in need is a friend indeed. Prosperity gains friends and adversity tries them. So it is friendship that brings comfort all along in all the phases of our life.
Friendship makes one dearer than blood relations. With people who are related to us by blood, it is a one-sided show. With friends and in friendship there is no such considerations.
In fact we gain relatives in prosperity. Even those who are distant relatives come near. In adversity most of them shun us. Such instances of betrayal in friendship are very rare.
Friendship is a sacred trust without the legal stamp. It, therefore, gives pleasure to serve not only the friends but everyone connected with him. Some of the friends do get pleasure in serving friends in their life time. They serve their friend’s children and families after the death of their friend. There are, however, friends and friends and we must distinguish between true friends and false friends. A true friend is he who stands by us through prosperity and adversity alike and is ever-ready to sacrifice his interests for our sake. A false friend on the other hand serves his own interests better than his friends and makes himself scarce when bad times or misfortunes befall his friends. As such we should be very careful and cautious in the choice of our friends. Once we have accepted a person as a friend we should not be slow to appreciate his worth. No man is perfect and a friend chosen with the greatest care will not be without failings and weaknesses. But we should always think more about his virtues than his shortcomings. Otherwise sooner or later mutual feelings are bound to be strained. Important as it is to be careful to make friends it is far more important to be careful to keep them. To gain this end one should exercise a good deal of self- control and sweet reasonableness in dealing with one’s friends.
A true friendship sweeters our life, heightens our joy and lightens our sorrows and as such it is an unmixed blessing.
