Friends

In general, children are first introduced to the concept of friendship when they first enter school. The definition of friendship here is for two or more strangers to become associated with each other. Here, friendship is inclusive. This simple concept, however, becomes confused and tarnished as we grow up.

Even in the early, pre-teen days, signs of this are evident. Cliques begin to form and people become selective about friends -- whether he benefits from you as a friend is one of the major criteria used. Cliques eventually become gangs, especially in the neighbourhood schools. Still, one cannot blame them. At this age, the child is still in the developmental stage. They are very easily affected by their surroundings. When they see, from the movies, the power a gang possesses and the confidence of the members, they eventually develop a desire to emulate this. Personally, I remember being in one of those little gangs. Due to fear in offending the law, I quit soon after. Still, once these gangs form, there is a barrier that they build between them and other people, and friends hence can no longer be formed easily.

When we reach teenage life, though pre-teenage ideas become deemed as childish and are discarded, the character within us have begun to involuntarily take shape. Hence, forming cliques become a natural thing to do. At this point in our lives, however, the choice of friends twists to also take into consideration gender. This is largely due to the onset of puberty and therefore increased hormones. Nevertheless, the trend here is that each individual would have begun to understand that females and males respond differently in unique situations, and hence would treat the opposite gender different from those of the same gender.

Upon entering adulthood, one practically steps into a powerful-flowing stream of society. He or she would be swept away swiftly. At this age, people seek friends largely for memories, not acquaintances. During this time, the world would have consumed all the time that the individual possessed. With friends, one would be tied down and burdened. Where is the time to keep friends then?

So you see, friendship has many definitions and dimensions. Which one represents true friendship? Which one do you exercise?