We attended a party to celebrate Independence Day and saw a lot of friends that we hadn’t seen in a while. Friends are a pretty important part of our lives. Some friends you see almost every day, some maybe once a year — or less. Friends come and go in our lives… so I got to wondering, what makes a good friend? Most of us have a number, or a lot, of friends. But is there a distinction between a friend and a good friend? I think there is — I know a lot of people that I consider friends and some that I consider good friends. I think it’s accurate to say that Claire has more good friends than I do. So, again, what moves a friend into the “good” category? I guess you could say a good friend is someone that you can trust and who won’t judge you, or someone whose company you enjoy, or someone that sticks around when things get tough, or someone that just makes you smile.
Those all seem like good attributes to look for in a friend…. the dictionary definition of a good friend is a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard. I suppose that’s true enough. Aristotle once describe a true friend as a single soul dwelling in two bodies. That sounds good too, but what differentiates a true, lasting friendship from other relationships? Most of us have at least one friend that is someone that knows us better than others and that we can count on when the need arises.
Recently I’ve started paying a little more attention to the news than in the past. I tend to read more articles and look for information that supports, or doesn’t support, the subject in question. Of course, a lot of the news is political…. even more so than in the past, and much of it is oriented towards personalities and personal attacks rather than real issues. This brings to mind something I once heard — when the character of a man is not clear to you, look at this friends. I’m not trying to make anything of this, it’s just difficult to keep it from popping into my head when I read/listen to all the Washington name calling and jockeying….
Of course, all this rambling hasn’t answered the question of what makes a good friend…. maybe there is no answer, or the answer is different for every single person. Good friends expect and endure the good, the bad and the ugly. Family can be, and often are, friends and sometimes friends are more “family” than our own families. The “gift that keeps on giving” is a well known marketing catch-phrase… maybe that’s what good friends are.
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