Regardless of how strong you think you are or how much you feel you can handle things alone, one truth remains, we all need someone, and most of the time, this person is someone we call our friend. But as much as we need friends, there are things we must put into consideration before calling someone our friend.
Friendship is a powerful and essential part of the human experience. It transcends age, race, gender, and social status, and it has the potential to positively impact our lives in numerous ways. The friends we make and keep throughout our lives have the power to shape who we are, support us through challenging times, and inspire us to become better individuals.
However, when it comes to choosing a friend, I do not allow fate to take its course, because they say, show me your friend and I will tell you who you are. So, when it comes to friendship, I have certain criteria that I consider.
Someone I call my friend must be a person with a clean and good reputation, because when your reputation is dented, it also has a way of affecting me, sometimes in ways I cannot explain. So, to be my friend, you must have a good reputation. I remember a story about one of my neighbors when we were much younger.
Wari was a notorious local criminal in the street, everyone knew him to the extent that whenever a property got missing, he was accused, and ninety percent of the time, the accusation turned out to be true. He was well known in the police station because he had been arrested and released countless times. One day, he stole electric cables and was arrested. When he was asked at the station to mention those he stole with, he mentioned one of his friends, Kufa. Immediately, the police came for Kufa and arrested him too. The truth is, Kufa did not join Wari in stealing the cables, but he benefited from the money realized from the stolen cables without knowing the source of the money.
When the police came for Kufa, no one could defend him because everyone knew him to be Wari’s close friend. You can now see why it is important to mind the kind of friends we keep.
Again, to call you my friend, you must be knowledgeable, have self-control, be humane, love God, live an open life, and not be too secretive. When I notice most of these qualities, I know you are good to be a friend.
