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Old 12-06-2012, 01:29 PM   #1
infinite monkey
Person who doesn't update the user title
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 13,002
What is a friend?

We have friends from all walks of life. Some seem to understand our very soul. Some are just fun to hang out with.

A friend will help you move, a good friend will help you move the body.

Friends are flowers in the garden of life.

Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.

It's the friends you can call up at 4 a.m. that matter.

I have all the friends I need right now, but if anyone dies I'll call you.


OK, some of the tripe is out of the way.

What IS a friend? I think a friend loves you no matter what you do. I don't think a friend enables behaviors that hurt you. A friend will tell you what you don't want to hear. A friend will risk that, because a friend loves you and wants what is best for you.

An acquaintance will typically not get involved. An acquaintance will coo at all the right times. An acquaintance is fun to go to a movie with, or have a drink with. One does not expect an acquaintance to delve into your very soul looking for all your faults and finer points; if they do, they may indeed become a friend.

You will have fallouts with friends that you will patch up. You will have fallouts with acquaintances where you may or may not patch things up.

A friend tells you when you have a booger hanging out of your nose. A friend will fall into the watery ditch with you so that you don't have to tell the track coach you peed your pants on the five mile road run, instead 'we both went into the ditch' (true story, JrHi, I was the friend.)

An acquaintance will be slightly embarrassed by you if you fart in public. An acquaintance may do your hair and your make-up for you, but it never looks as good as when your friend does, because your friend knows 'you.'

A friend loves you when you can't get out of bed for three days and you stink. A friend will drag you to the shower to get you moving. A friend will figuratively bash you upside the head with tough love and tell you to get your shit together. Because a friend loves you. A friend wants what is best for you.

Rare and brilliant, a real friend is hard to find, but not hard to hold. A friend will knock the crap out of that wall you've built. Persistently, not always gently, sometimes to your greatest annoyance. Acquaintances, bless them, are easy to find but harder to hold...but that's OK. Acquaintances might get sick of your crap and walk away, and that's OK too.

I am lucky to have some lovely acquaintances, a few amazing cow orkers, a wonderful family, and a handful of the best friends I could ever ask for.
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