What Is Friendship ?

   F-R-I-E-N-D-S-H-I-P. The question 'What does it really means' has been going around my mind since the last few months. All this while, I have been observing people around me and tried to search for its meaning within them. Last Friday morning like any other mornings, I woke up to the chirping sound of birds and the alarm on my mobile phone, dashed into the washroom and got myself ready to college. While waiting for the others on the bus, I took my pen out from my big black and pink pencil case and an A4 size paper, started to scribble the outline. According to Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary International Student's Edition - friendship is a relationship between friends that should be based on sincerity and honesty, not money or rank.

   Some people would say 'we are who we make friends with'. If we make friends with the nerds, we become a nerd. On the other hand, if we make friends with someone who is playful  then we will be playful at all times. I remember vividly my parents' advice, 'Be careful with who you make friends with. If anyone wants you to accompany them to the mall or any other places not for the purpose of studying, don't go if you've nothing important to do'. The same sentence being repeated over and over again since I first set foot in the kindergarten. Long ago, when I was still a kid, the advice fell on deaf ears. But as I grew up, I started to understand the true meaning. I realised that such simple sentence can give a big impact on my future. Today, after a while searching for its meaning, I have the answer in my hands. True friends are those whom we can feel the comfort and emotional safety with, the one whom we are not embarrassed at all to cry in front of and the one who believe in us even when we have ceased to believe in ourselves, the one who is willing to help us to achieve the maximum we can do or want to do in life and the one whom we can tell the deepest darkest secrets to knowing that they will be safe. Why ? Because true friends can be trusted as much as they trust us and they love us with eternity like how our family love us.

   According to Aristotle, 'A friend is a single sole dwelling in two bodies'. Friends are people in our lives that care for us, add meaning to our lives. With any doubt, they will sit with us in the hospital when we are sick, be with us when we grieve, come out to help in the middle of the night, stand up for us, the list goes on. They also    add meaning by means of joy, happiness, and fun as they are closely related to us and share the same values about things. 'Sharing is caring' - One of the quote to relate friends with us. Through sharing, we are able to laugh and joke about things that we will both find funny and interesting as we share the similarities.

   I would now elaborate more on how my best friends play their roles in my life. I personally believe that friends are people who help one another to overcome any type of obstacles that come into each other's life just like the sayings, 'Many hands make light work'. Each of them may have different methodology of helping. For instances, there will be there with open arms and big hugs that soothe us even during our toughest times, listen attentively to our cries for help or understanding and giving pieces of advices. They always let us know that there is someone out there who cares for us and we are valuable to someone else in this world when others treat us like trash. They make us see things from different angles and perspectives, allowing us to reflect, examine the solution and search for alternatives to solve the problem. They add fun to release the tension. There is a quote which states, 'A friend will joyfully sing with you when you are on the mountain top and silently walk beside you through the valley'.

   If one day you walk along the corridors of any shop houses or malls and someone asks you how many friends you have, I'm pretty sure that the answer will be 'many' and you can't list them all in a minute! But not many of them will be there for you when you need them the most. Believe me! They will be with us during the happiness and when we are rich. When we are in sorrow or poverty, they will pretend to be busy. Human changes in a second. Sigh...  If the same question were to be rephrased like 'how many TRUE friends you have', only a few from the long list friends will go into the true friends list.

   In a nutshell, true friends usually will be honest and respectful towards ourselves. But to earn the honesty and respect from others, we should first be honest and respectful towards those people around us and ourselves. True friends sees only the good in us, often notice when something is not going on its way. Therefore, we should keep our true friends close to our hearts regardless of how far both of us are separated by. Never forsake them because we must be loyal to them as they are loyal to us and not being hostile. However, in this modern era, we have to be careful with the people around us. We can see people with differents masks covering their faces trying to make us fall into their trap. Everyone has to learn to differentiate between right or wrong to prevent social maladjustment from happening. The correct peer group is essential for development of one's personality. Abraham Lincoln quoted, 'The better part of one's life consists of his friendships's Friendship is God's magical, miraculous looking glass through which we see each other with the eyes of Soul. I would say Bruno Mars' hit - Count On Me is the best song to learn the meaning of friendship. Cheers. :)

With Hani on Majlis Restu before the SPM started. 9 years and still counting. 

Farah & Aliah on the final day of school in the year 2008. 9 years and still counting.

Azah in her class in the year 2010. 6 years and still counting.

They are among the people who will be there for me during the happiness and sorrow. I am grateful to have them in my life. They understand me the best beside my family.Thank you lovely best friends for everything. Thank you for 'tahan' with my attitude. I may bump into other friends or other guy tomorrow but not TRUE FRIENDS like you all! No matter how far we are separated by, I'll love you all till the end :) Inshaallah. 

*Oh yes, I almost forgot. Ramadan has ended and its Eid again. Mashaallah time flies. Anyways, Happy Eid Mubarak everyone ! Still not too late isn't it ? Sorry for any wrongdoings. Minal Aidil Wal Faizin. :) *