Friendship

Monday, August 2, 2010

by guest blogger Riema 

Even though the term friendship is loosely used in our culture for our associates and acquaintances, I place a high value in those I call and regard as friends. Let me share my perspective on how friendship weighs on me.

I grew up being very selective of those I deal with and call friends. I always have a low key personality and tend to gravitate towards people with similar personality traits. I believe in the notion to look out to people who share like values and principles came from the influence of my mom. She has a strong belief that kids tend to fold easily under peer pressure and friends are a good measure of our types. She often refers to the famous saying “show me your friends and I will tell you what you are”. This has a profound impact on me to this day, although I’ve made a big improvement.

My experience has thought me a lot over the years. I didn’t want to be a vessel of moving genes from one generation to the other causing me to open up more in reaching out to broad range of people. Against my fears, I felt the need to move to the center and build relationship with others not alike me. It was a steep climb and a difficult endeavor to build tolerance. This has been a great learning experience to discover in me more than I knew I’ve possessed. A great deal of self awareness came into light in my life. After all, I came to the realization that we may be different, have contrasting personalities, beliefs and desires, but we very well share deeper inner ability to relate and enjoy doing the same things. These little things actually create the strong bonds that develop into many of my true friendships.

The core basis of friendship to open your life to others also comes with its own aches. In my own experiences which are not unique to me, I’ve had my own share of disappointments. Not every good deed gets rewarded with good. We are vulnerable anytime we expose ourselves to others. Few friends have betrayed my trust. Often said “friendship is forever”, they made me rethink this theory quite a few times.

Indeed, few good ones makes it worth the sweat, especially when a friend is a joy to talk to when you need an ear to listen to you, when a friend makes you laugh whenever you feel down, when a friend laughs at your jokes even if they don’t appear to be too funny etc. I appreciate all my friends especially the ones who can go for a long period of time without speaking and never question our friendship. My friends enrich my life, and I cannot imagine life without a single friend.

These are a few of the friendship quotes I like:

"True friendship is like sound health; the value of it is seldom known until it be lost." - Charles Caleb Colton

"Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born."- Anais Nin

"My friends are my estate."- Emily Dickinson

"A friend is one who walks in when others walk out" -Walter Winchell

"A friend is someone who is there for you when he'd rather be anywhere else." - Len Wein

On that note, I leave you with this great video clip I saw on facebook months ago. I wept the first time I watched it. My all time favorite video clip of the power of friendship:












Riema is a wife, mother, entreprenuer, philanthropist and a blogger. You can follow her journey in her blog.