Friendship - what does it mean to you? We have been using this word from childood, introduced by our parents. In childhood, parents connect us to other children in neighbourhood and tell us they are friends. We play with them and decide that those with whom we spend time on playground are our friends. Thus, friendship begins in the form of playmates in the childhood. It might be with siblings or with others. But that feeling of liking someone's company is friendship.
As we grow and enter school, we have more choice in terms of having more children of our age group. We get to choose whose company we like more and sit near them in the classroom. We share our food with them and start doing mischiefs. But here also, main motive behind the freindship is about playing together and liking the company.
However, when we go to higher standards in school, a new factor of utility gets introduced. Parents and teachers tell us to be friends with bright and good students. Although it never happens. Because if everyone becomes friend with only toppers and disciplined students, most of the children would remain friendless! But the factor of utility becomes stronger in determining friendship with our growing maturity. Those who can help in solving a maths problem would be prefered friend. The classmate who is willing to help in homework is also one everyone would like to be friend with. Well, this continues in college and furter studies.
When we plunge into professional world, we seek those friends who can handhold us in progress and growth. Or at least we pretent to make friends out of them. Isn't it selfish? Friendship is claimed to be the most selfless relationship but it is not true. If you are successful, you will have many friends. If you have failures on your side, the number will automatically reduce. Now the question is - whether they are real friends? They may not be - but how to identify? One criteria given by people is that childhood friends are the best friends and they have no selfish reason to be with us. But remember, many of the friendships in childhood also are based on selfish motives.
Whatever we may say, but friendship is the most perfect and most powerful relationship we experience in our life. Most perfect because there we do not see faults and flaws of a person. We are friends despite them. Whoever doesn't like us, will not be our friend. Most powerful because in this relationship, there is no compulsion on us. There is only right in friendhip - no duties. Even while helping a friend in his need, we do it as a right, not as a duty. There are no judgements in friendship and no indebtedness. Any other relationship might have some compulsion, but friendship is sponteneous and voluntary relation. No one compels us to continue that friendship unless we want to. It is such a beautiful bonding but we just need to make sure that we maintain friendship with true friends only!
(Expressed opinion is personal)
