Be Friendly

A man who has friends must be a friend. - Proverbs 18:24

I have met folks who say to me, “I don’t have any friends and I am happy with it.” Then they continue to expound on their strange perspective, “When you bring people too close you give them an opportunity to take you for granted. After all, ‘familiarity breeds contempt you know.’” Have you heard something like this before?

To me this line of thought is like the classic allegory about the debate between a pessimist and an optimist over a half empty (or is it half full) glass of water. I say so because rather than see friendship only as a platform where people take advantage of our vulnerabilities, there are a zillion other ways to see it.

You could see friendship as an opportunity to experience people that aren’t like you. There are 7 billion people on this planet and the common sense of science tells us that there isn’t any one of these 7 billion people that are exactly like you. That makes you the most unique creature on the surface of the earth! That also means there are 7 billion other unique beings that are worth experiencing merely for their uniqueness.

You could see friendship as a complimentary platform. If you have studied yourself for some time you’d have noticed that there are some natural gifts and skills you have. Now, if you have some it also means that there are others (countless actually) that you don’t have but someone else does. So if you need to embark on a project that needs a natural gift or skill that you don’t have what do you do? You tap into those of friends around you (that is of course if you have friends).

You could see friendship as a trust. We all encounter times when our hearts are broken and the blue skies are darkened – it is a common path. When you have friends you’ll have shoulders to lean on and cry. You’ll have hearts you could empty yours of needless chatter into. You’ll have eyes you can look into and know that you are in safe hands. In summary, you’ll have a place you can trust when you are lonely.

Now the BIGGEST part of it all: If you have friends you can be all the above and much more to them! This way, you aren’t just taking from but giving to others. Isn’t this the essence of life?

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