Best Friends

Almost everyone has friends from the time they are young children and throughout their entire adult lives. Every single friend one has is different. Some friends may enjoy playing games, while others may enjoy the same hobbies or be fun to talk with. Nonetheless, every friend provides each individual participating in the friendship with a good time, but in certain instances, a friend can be so close and dear that she is considered a best friend. Having a best friend is possible; however, a true best friend is a rare pleasure.

We derive different pleasures and experiences from different friends. In order to call a person a friend, two people must share similar interests. Each individual friend provides us with different types of happiness, all of which serves to make our lives more meaningful and enjoyable and improve our sense of well being. Some friends may provide emotional support while others may share the same hobbies. An example of this would be a friend who is close because he enjoys a hobby such as the same sport, while having another friend who makes himself close by providing joy and happiness through means of humorous and enjoyable conversation. These two friends provide different pleasures that benefit each others’ well being, which makes comparing these two friends difficult.  Each person is complex and possesses a wide variety of likes and dislikes, dreams and desires.  The people we call friends typically share one or more of these personality traits with us. For this reason, most people have many friends and comparing them is not always possible because each friend provides a different source of camradire. For example, a friend who is close because of his similar interest in a certain hobby, like playing the violin, will not always be comparable to a friend who is close because of common dreams and aspirations, like wanting to become a medical doctor. Even though one friend may seem more important than another, they both provide us with different satisfying/meaningful experiences and mirror ourselves in different ways. In this way, comparing one friend to another would be like comparing numbers and letters.

No two individuals are identical, and it is safe to say that we are all unique. Therefore, it is difficult to find friends with whom we share many of the same interests. However, when a friend is found who shares many of the same interests, it is very likely that we could consider her a best friend. Uniqueness in the ways people act is a reflection of their different personalities. When a person chooses someone with whom she can be friends, that person must share some of her personality traits. If two people share nothing in common, it is fair to say that they probably will not be friends.

Lastly, the complexity in each person makes finding a true best friend very difficult. As children, it is easy to have best friends. Children are simpler than older people and have basic/limited hobbies and pastimes. As we get older, we become more complex and develop specific interests. A friend will almost always need to share many interests in order to be considered a best friend, but because these interests are so specific and complex, it is very difficult for an adult to find such a person that he can call his best friend. Since finding a best friend is so difficult, it is likely that most adults do not have true best friends. The people who do have best friends are very lucky because they have found someone who is so similar to themselves in many important ways that they can see themselves in their best friends.

To be sure, friends are great assets who give our lives light and meaning. One who has friends should consider herself lucky for every one of them; having friends is a privilege that makes life much brighter. Those who are fortunate enough to have best friends are truly blessed indeed. Whether one has a best friend or a number of close relationships that he considers to be friendships, it is the good times and the sharing that we enjoy with others that often makes our lives most meaningful.