I have some relatives who behave much colder than strangers. I have also friends who are closer to me than my closest relative, I mean they are closer to me than my parents. Confused? Well, I am. Friends or relatives, who is who?
This world and its people are nothing if there are no friends, if there is no friendliness amongst them, is it not? Friendship is what defines a relationship, and not whether one is the other’s brother, sister, father, mother or cousin or whatever. There is no relationship if there is no friendliness.
Right from my schooldays through college upto now when I have got a job, I have had friends, some have gone, some have stayed, I have lost some, I have picked up new. They have always helped me find meaning in my life. My adoloscent days wouldn’t have been so enjoyable if I didn’t have the type of friends I had. I didn’t even have a percent of that fun with my relatives.
Who are relatives? Their link to us is only a theoretical one, if it has to be a functional, practical connection between us and relatives, there has to be friendliness in that. Or else, it merely is a namesake one.
For example, I am discovering some relatives who are getting quite friendly, we are calling up each other, discussing each other’s lives, our sorrows, our happiness etc. My father for example, is so good, I admire him, love him, but it’s difficult for me to be his friend; probably the generation gap. He is too formal, just doesn’t seem to understand the way things work.
Take husband and wife; their relationship has any meaning only if there is friendliness between them. They need to be friends always. Problems crop up, when that friendliness vanishes. That’s when they begin to separate and later divorce.
Basically, it is friendliness that matters in a relationship and nothing else. I am thinking of these, because I am looking for friends in this new city, I could find one, that friendship could get deeper, like it did once, long back; and then that could grow further or just break up…
