Happy friendship Day

Relationships are of two types.  First, you cannot choose, like you cannot choose your parents; you cannot choose your brother or sister. It is destined by existence.  Second is, in which you can choose, like you can choose your lover or wife. Friendship cannot fall precisely into these categories as you may have a friendship with your brother and sister as well as with your wife. It is something that can prevail like glue that strengthens your relationship. To live, to share our happiness and sorrows, to feel a sense of security we need friends. Our need varies. It may be emotional need or economical need. So, we can say that our friends are our need answered. Existence provides you friend in form of parents, brother and sister.   In jobs, we became friends to our project-mates. In home, our friendship is based on our emotional need. It is our need, but mutual. 

According to Wikipedia, Friendship is co-operative and supportive behaviour between two or more people. The term ‘co-operative’ defines one who works with you to fulfil a common goal, like our team-mates in a group serves a common purpose for a project. The term ‘supportive’ defines one who supports you in your hardships; one who motivates you, guide you.

In one of his essays, Bertrand Russell describes that our happiness is proportional to the diversity of interest and friendly nature. He says,” The secret of happiness is this: Let your interests be as wide as possible, and let your reactions to the things and persons that interest you be as far as possible friendly rather than hostile.”

I personally never find the exact universal definition of friendship. It seems to me as an abstract sense encompassing different types at different levels.  We have official friends; we have homely friend; where ever we go and find someone fulfilling or sharing our need, we get a friend. C.S. Lewis has very clearly stated,” Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: "What! You, too? Thought, I was the only one."  We may have spiritual friend. We may be a friend of ourselves. How can we generalize this feeling? In whole of the relationship either it is official friend or homely friend or spiritual friend, one thing is common and that is we, our presence. Can I describe friendship as a state, a state of our being?  Can we not be friendly with everyone, we find? I feel then we can generalize the term friendship. Friendship is like a breezy wind where ever it blows it spreads its aroma. Only those who close their nose do not feel it. When Aristotle says,” What is a friend?  A single soul dwelling in two bodies.”   It is feeling of oneness, it is a state of empathizing to everyone.

Let make your own definition by realization because there is something that cannot confine into the definition. To define them is just to trace the footsteps backwards. So, Happy friendship day to all of you with these beautiful lines

The bird a nest

     The spider a web

          The human friendship