Saturday, December 27, 2008

Friendship - cultural and personal perspective

By John King

As a great quote was saying, "friendship is the bridge between Earth and Heaven"; actually, no matter how much you analyze this quote or how much you try to describe friendship in words, they could never be enough to define it. It's all about giving instead of expecting or receiving; it's about feeling when a friend is down and visiting him for no particular reason.. It's about trust and confidence, it's about sharing, it's about another kind of love.

An interesting approach literature has on the subject claims that a person should be friends with itself first, in order to be friends with others. He who hasn't found a friend in himself, could never have one in the outside world. Another quote, saying "the greatest sweetener of human life is friendship" is also very real, and together they prove the value given to friendship by literature - may it be classical or modern.

There are many psychological theories that try to define friendship, such as: equity theory, rational dialectics, social exchange theory, attachment styles and many others. The common fact scientists agreed on was that confidence is the most important ingredient in this equation of friendship - it satisfies the need of humans to share their secrets - but there is one big condition: not being betrayed. Once that occurs, wounds heal very hard but in most cases never heal. In the end,we can only conclude that scientists generally agreed on common sense facts - so a the theories about friendship are still very vague and far from offering the right scientific answers.

The word "friendship" itself is even used in some political speeches, as it is a very powerful emotion modifier. People are sensitive about this word, and not at their conscious level - that's why it's so powerful. It was even used to define relationships between states, although this unnaturalized the meaning of it in a way.

In conclusion, one of the greatest human connection is through friendship; those who have felt it know its importance - those who have been betrayed know that unforgettable sour taste. But in the end, us humans are interconnected through this wonderful form of connection and even love tends to become a beautiful friendship in latter years.

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