The discourse surrounding friendship usually emphasizes the positive aspects of friendship; words like ‘loyalty’ ‘forever’ and ‘comfort’ are generally the most common elements people think of in any exploration of friendship. Although friendship certainly contains these attributes, upon closer analysis, it also includes a more complex array of other elements as well. A more sophisticated and refined definition of friendship would include not only a portrait of its enduring, permanent meaning, but also of its contingency and transience as well. A more comprehensive picture of friendship is important if we are to properly estimate the value it holds for us as human beings.
First of all, we have to be careful not to over-emphasize the idea that only true friendships are forever. For example, in elementary school, there were many of us hanging out, running and playing with our little friends, and we believed that our life would be boring without playing together every day. However, now that we have become adults, we mostly don’t remember who our little friends were and how seemingly indisposable they were. There are only few of us who still remember those friends who we played with and, unbelievably, have stayed in contact with each other since that time. It is a fact that people change, and friendships that were once appropriate and meaningful can fade away when one or more of the people involved go through changes. This transience of friendship should not negate the authenticity of the friendship as it once was.
Secondly, it is often believed that true friendships are always comfortable, that is, that a true friendship is true because it is comfortable. True, some friendships seem very comfortable and reliable. However, in order to maintain a true friendship, there are also many sacrifices that need to be made. Above all, it takes lots of effort in different ways to keep friendships with many different friends. Sometimes, sacrificing our own personal interests...