ON FRIENDSHIP

A friend is a person capable of loving irrespective of whether he is being loved or not. Friendship can

exist between the same sex: man-man, woman-woman, or opposite sex: man-woman. It transcends age

and could subsist between even an old man and a small boy. Human beings also establish friendships

with their pet animals such as cats, dogs, horses, doves and parrots. Friendship can also be felt in

familial relationships between father and son, mother and daughter, husband and wife, brother and sister,

elder brother and younger brother. Yet, more than friendship, love is the binding force in familial

relationships. In a deeper sense, love is below friendship because it is an above/below relation, one of

hierarchy and condition. It is implied, then, that friendship is freedom plus equality. It involves choice

and volition. The concept of friendship needs exploration because often a man is known by the company

he keeps; knowing the company helps one to know oneself and develop his personality to the fullest.

Each of our friends mirrors a rejected or acknowledged trait in us. They happen to be our friends

because it is ourselves in different forms, and a unified vision of them constitutes to the sameness of our

identity.

Generally, friendship exists for three reasons: a) virtue b) usefulness c) pleasure. When virtue is the

reason, friendship exists for the sake of friendship; where both like each other and cherish each other for

some creditable values in the other’s personality. You wish to be the friend of that person for the sheer

personality that he/she has. It has a magic in itself. It attracts you. And it is mutual. You know that

you would even die to swear your friendship for that person. But you also know that the other would

make you live than die for him/her. It is somewhat platonic in concept inasmuch as the other may not be/

need not be all that intelligent and good looking, useful or capable of giving pleasure.friendship; it is useful but lasts so long as the need for utility persists. Once we do away with the utility need the friendship eventually dies. It holds good only for that moment and need.

Friendship of the third kind is formed essentially on account of the pleasure the relationship is capable

of giving. He is a joker. The moment he enters, you forget all your worries. You cannot but wonder

what new joke he has got up in his sleeve to make you roar into laughter. And he never disappoints you

that way. She is cute, intelligent and charming. The very notion that she is your friend makes you feel

proud. That she walks, talks and takes tea with you is enough. You are on cloud nine. The point rests

here: How good is he/she in giving me pleasure--physically, emotionally, mentally and

materialistically?

Now to the question: Which of the three is good? It appears that type A is good, but it is not as useful

or joyful as the other types. Type B is good, yet it falls short of longevity and quality. Type C too is

good, but how long one enjoys only pleasure in life? How many jokes can a person take in a day? And

does it give the same pleasure as it gave to him in the beginning? Doesn’t he reach a saturation point, a

mental and emotional exhaustion? Where he would rather prefer to be left alone to himself? Would

prefer to shed a tear inside rather than go on laughing at the follies of the world?tue-based relationships are formed mostly during childhood, schooldays. Sometimes later, at college

days, when we live in a state of blissful ignorance, or rather, fool’s paradise. But once one tastes the

coldness of reality and learns to conduct oneself a successful professional, the circumstance demands

realise that most of the virtue-based relationships is formed during our young, immature (ironically