How Many Friends Do You Have
Posted: Tuesday, July 19, 2011
by Deborah Jackson
The Organic Garden
I just listened to a commercial that said “the older generation is becoming more anti-social” . The girl in the ad went on to say that she was really glad her parents were on Facebook. Slightly condescendingly, she joked that they now had nineteen friends. She compared that almost pityingly with her six hundred and forty seven friends.
A friend is the relative that you choose; the person that knows you and loves you anyway. A friend is there for you when you need a shoulder to cry on and don’t need to worry that your inner most thoughts and feelings will be fodder for the next Friday night gab fest. A friend is the person you can laugh with over nothing at all. A friend is the person you can act the fool with and not be judged. A friend is the person you would do anything within your power for. A friend is the person you trust, with your heart and your mind and your spirit.
Communication technology and the internet make it easy to keep in touch with people you meet at work or play, people that you went to grammar school or pledged with in college. It’s handy when you need a date or just want some casual conversation or company. It lets you express an opinion or agree with ideas formed by complete strangers. It can bridge social gaps that so many of us have. But only in a very few instances does it create friends. Those are few and far between. In sixty years of living I’ve met thousands of people. I’ve liked and socialize with many of them.
I have five friends.
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)Thanks for being so right. I have two GOOD friends that I can laugh or cry with. One I've known since I was 14 years old, another for the past 10 years. But, I'm sure in the course of a life time we will know 600 or more people, but not as a good friend.
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