Personal Essay: Friendship And Friendship

Imagine you’re the only shipwreck survivor and you finally landed on an island after long way of swimming. You will certainly feel lucky you survived. The island looks gorgeous with its huge trees, blue sea, sunny skies and colorful birds, but the down side is: no one at all is living on this island except you. Will you always wish to find someone to talk to, to listen to, or to simply communicate with? How long do you think you can be able to live totally by yourself there? I think not so long. God created Prophet Adam first, then He created Eve, so both of them (Adam and Eve) accompanied each other in the paradise. So even in paradise, no one can live alone. During childhood years, our parents have encouraged us to try to make friends and

Most of us sometimes need someone to share with him or her feelings and thoughts, to seek help if needed, and to be for each other without waiting for the return. This special relationship can be achieved with close friends. Unlike family and relatives, you can choose whom you consider a friend. I agree with Deresiewicz when he writes, “Friendships, unlike blood ties, are elective.” That is to say, we are totally free to choose our friends, and obviously it is not the same case regarding family or relatives. Some of us carry in his or her memory happy familiar moments while others carry sad ones. Either ways we couldn’t choose our family. The modern lifestyle nowadays sometimes obligates us to leave our families and move somewhere far away seeking for a better future. In these instances, we do not have a choice other than to replace family members with friends. If we are lucky enough, we can find the emotional support, provided previously from parents, brothers, and sisters, with our chosen friends. Personally, I departed my homeland and came here to the United States leaving all my family, friends and memories back there. I found here friends who helped me a lot to accommodate to my new circumstances. Although I miss my family and childhood friends, but I pursue that emotional support with my friends I found

People are different in their perception, behavior and the way they react to situations. Even close friends will sometimes have different opinion about specific issues. Whatever I believe is right some others may believe it is wrong, and here is the test for a long lasting friendship. Social intelligence allows people to be lenient with each other and permit a range of forgiveness. It is important to overlook the mistakes of our friends as long as we want this friendship to last forever. Deresiewicz, in his article, goes on contrasting between modernity and friendship, as he claims, “Modernity believes in freedom. We can be friends with whomever we want, however we want, for as long as we want.” I disagree with this particular view the author delineates because friendship and every other human relationship requires a lot of forgiveness, sacrifice, commitment, and loyalty. If we over expect from people surrounding us, we will be disappointed frequently and forgiveness is not going to be easy. Trying to find excuses for a close friend who did not call you on your birthday for example, can be a way to overcome minor unneeded blame that may lead to more aggravated discussion. This is not easy to achieve, but the fruit that comes out of this effort is worthy. If we deal with friends as we deal with a piece of garment, we try it on, if we like it we keep it, if not, we return it right