What is a Friend?

This is how the Webster’s II Dictionary on my desk defines the word “friend”:

a person whom one knows, likes and trusts; an acquaintance; and a person with whom one is allied in a struggle or cause.

Wow! By that definition, I have hundreds and thousands of friends!

Google, on the other hand, reports 6,400 other websites that cover the same topic. Their observations are quite different, a few of which follow:

  • A friend is always faithful to you, even during bad times.
  • A friend is devoted to your friendship and will never do anything to destroy it.
  • A friend is someone you’re free to be yourself around.
  • A friend is someone you can tell your most private thoughts to.
  • A friend is openly honest with you.
  • A friend goes out of their way to make time for you.
  • A friend helps you become a better person.
  • A friend is always there for you when you need someone.
  • A friend enjoys your successes as though they were his or her own.
  • A friend is anyone that is willing to be a friend.
  • A friend loves you.

That significantly narrows down the playing field to less than a handful, doesn’t it? It’s amazing how many people that I have listed in the Friends section of the Address Book on my Palm Pilot that don’t meet those basic definitions.

Where do you think you fit in?

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Responses

5 Responses to “What is a Friend?”

  1. Response #1
    zein abu ata (IP) on November 15th, 2002 at 3:15 am

    friends are for each other!!

  2. Response #2
    Sean (IP) on November 15th, 2002 at 9:55 am

    A good friend is the one who bails you out of jail.
    A REALLY good friend is the one sitting next to you saying “Man, that was sooo cool!”

  3. Response #3
    richard on November 15th, 2002 at 11:45 am

    And it’s your BEST friend who says, “Let’s do that again!!”

  4. Response #4
    Natalie (IP) on November 27th, 2002 at 8:46 am

    All I have to say is GASP! Har har! Never mind…

  5. Response #5
    Matthew Holmes (IP) on March 8th, 2004 at 11:58 am

    It is so true! I have a mate who i love in more ways than 1, and he is always so depressed round me lately.
    He doesn’t live up to those definitions.

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