ESSAY-FRIENDSHIP:A RIVER THAT FLOWS THROUGH YOU

Friendship is the river that flows through my very soul,it's the essence that waters my emotions and brightens my smile.Friends are the bricks I built my Universe on and the roof which protects me from all evil.Friends are my family,my religion and my philosophy.

First of all when we think of friendship we think of human interaction and relationships.Philosophy has been analyzing the true meaning and purpose of the human being for thousands of years.A very wise American writer once said that"friends and philosophy are the oxymoron of our days",also implying that friendship is a second family,a family we chose according to our own personality.Philosophy teaches us to treasure a true friend,but to stay away from irrelevant interactions and false people.Furthermore writers in ancient Greece described the feelings we share with our friends as a strong empathy, a deep respect for one another,confidence,both given and received and most importantly balance and protection from loneliness and sadness.Thus our friends become an armor with which we can battle even the strongest armies.Nevertheless there are some who consider friendship irrelevant,arguing that human interaction is not at all important.

Secondly friends are our family,a happy addition to our God given relatives.The memories we share with friends are often just as precious as those we share with our family,think of Pip from the novel "Great expectations" and what colossal value friends had for the growing boy. I trust my friends with my life,just as I would my mother,I respect them as I would my father and I love them as I love myself.I believe this is one of the most important unwritten rules of a relationship-to give and receive equally,to always offer without expecting anything in return.A similar lesson is taught in the novel"The little prince" where the main character slowly learns the meaning of friendship.However opinions differ,some people refusing to see how friends and family can be equally important.

Thirdly,should we analyze this matter from a religious point of view we have to think of the Biblical example of Cain and Abel,and how their friendship decayed to the lowest level of hate:murder.Some of the dangers we have to face in a friendship involve envy,hatred,lack of trust,confidence or respect.Just like the seeds of envy slowly grew inside Cain's heart leading him to believe that his beloved brother was in fact his enemy,just like that we can meta morph a beautiful feeling into one of distrust and unhappiness,take Caesar and Brutus for example.Religion teaches us an important lesson:to never put a barrier on our love,to love unconditionally.

As a conclusion we ask ourselves what friends are,what is their purpose?Philosophy says that they are the roots of our humanity,a shield from loneliness,religion teaches us that friends are love while our family teaches us the true meaning of bonding with someone.Friendship...what would we do without it?

L