I've been thinking lately about the term friendship, what it means in itself and to us individually.
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According to https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/friend
'a person who you know well and who you like a lot, but who is usually not a member of your family', while according to https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/friend, a friend is 'a person who you like and enjoy being with, a person who helps or supports someone or something,
One attached to another by affection or esteem, one that is not hostile,one that is of the same nation, party, or group.'
Looking at these two definitions, we can say all the possible way you can look at a friend has been covered. While some had depth, some where pretty shallow.
But today, I observe people who supposedly call themselves friends and I feel quite sad, because for starters, most people don't really know much about their supposed friends.
I mean, we live in an age where I could be your 'friend' for years and we won't have to meet even once due to technological advancement.
This leniency of the criteria on which to classify friends is as a result of the zero-sum game culture and the rise of political correctness. Society teaches us to tolerate people and things as if not tolerating these things automatically means the person at the other end is an enemy.
We have been taught to be politically correct, polite and inclusive of all, such that any refusal to accept that will be seem as a call to arms against the other person. This is wrong.
When it comes to relationships, it's not really a zero sum game, it's not just black and white, it's not two extreme.
It is actually more like a spectrum. If you're not my friend doesn't mean you're my enemy. You could be somewhere midway through the spectrum, somewhere around acquaintance or someone I am beginning to like and then maybe friend-elect馃槀馃槀.
As political correctness gains more ground, to appear selective or intentional about those you call friends is seen as pride, I disagree. This can only be assessed relative to what friendship means to the person in question.
In my case, if I call you my friend, I don't see you as just someone I like that's not family, or someone I love to spend time with. It's more like someone I trust completely to have my back at all times to the point of putting up their comfort and lives on the line, if need be.
This might seem a bit grandeous, but for me, a friend is my brother from another mother.
I honestly believe that depending on the circumstances, the water between two friends can be thicker than water. That's what I call ****## true friendship****.
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