Friendship

On Friendship

The old saying, “a friend in need is the friend indeed” is little bit old-fashioned now. “ A friend is the most important need of the other” could be the new one. In this modern computer era of social networking and such online friendships, the warmth of such relationships also has become so mechanical and cold. Friends are made at the click of the mouse. Such friendships develop through chatting; file sharing, and video sharing and not more than that. Sometimes, this chatting leads to cheating as many prefer to have pseudonyms in their public profiles.

The old concept of friendship was genuine and lively. These friends had a very unique thing in common- physical presence. Those friendships were intimate and deep. On the other hand, modern friendship lacks originality and depth. Personal encounter with the other is lacking. Therefore, a friend of today (social media in particular) is highly profit oriented. They are all looking for benefits from the other.

True friendship is quite deep. A true friend is the one who stands beside you even when you are in trouble. They don’t expect anything in return. A true friendship happens when there is a beautiful blending of two minds. This sort of friendship can be found even in marital relationships. Such relationships would only last. There is a saying, ‘there will be to laugh with you but you will be alone to cry’. Thus this utilitarian and consumerist modern society has lost the real meaning of friendship. ‘Use and throw’ has become the hidden agenda of many so called friendships. They don’t in fact flourish in mutual giving and taking. Self-sacrifice is required in building good friendships. On the contrary, what we see is self-exaggeration. It has become a mere drama. It has degenerated into the status of a ‘make believe affair’. Where are we heading to?