How to Be a Friend to Your Friends

 

What does being a friend mean to you? Does it just mean having some company for your nights out and for those movies and a few pairs of ears to listen to when you want to talk something? Or does it just mean having someone to help you when you need some money or some other kind of favor?

 

Most times, people say that they don’t have friends that they count on. If you think so as well, maybe you need to look within yourself first.

 

Friendship is highly relative. You have to be a good friend to people first. It is only then that you get genuine friends who can stick with you through thick and thin. You cannot be a selfish slob and expect everyone around you to give you the shirt off their back when you need it.

 

Though we live in times that are characterized by great strides in scientific and technological progress—in times that are called as the ‘scientific age’ or the ‘computer age’—the basic human qualities such as friendship remain the same. The same age-old values still apply.

 

You need to think of your friends as human. Often we lose sight of them when we are thinking too much about ourselves. Most people have a tendency of putting themselves at the center of attraction—they think that the world revolves around them and everything else apart from them is secondary. This is certainly not the way to approach friendship. You must realize that your friends are with you for the same reasons that you are with them. Give them first what you expect them to give you—a kind word, support, companionship and everything else that you need for yourself.

 

You don’t want to be a fair-weather friend either, because then that is what you will get for yourself. Fair-weather friends are those who are with you when the going is good and bail out on you when things begin getting rough. You have to pledge your support to your friends. Be with them in their lean times. Even if just stay with them when they are feeling low and don’t say a word, you may be able to give them enough courage.

 

This is what helps you grow a person as well. A person is known by the company they keep. When you are a good friend, you are likely to be surrounded by good friends as well. This develops you as a person and helps you grow.