Extended Definition essay: Friendship

Have you ever experienced having a person whom you can tell your secrets to? The person where you can be yourself. The person you wish to have been your life-long brother or sister. The person you can call your best friend. - They are the people we consider as our soul mates, the people who are always there for us in times of need and struggles, and the people who let us experience the word "friendship". - A word that has many definitions, based on how people see its meaning, importance and keys of having a life-long friendship.

People have their own definitions, insights and feelings about friendship, based on how they see, hear and feel it. Some say it is a kind of relationship between two or more people who associate each other as friends. Some think it is a kind of intimate relationship between two people. It is a simple word yet hard to define. Hard because it has many meanings and people tend to have different opinions about it. As what the conversation between Oscar and his friends had in the Night Ferry, "Friendship is a difficult thing to define. Oscar here is my oldest friend. How would you define friendship, Oscar?" Oscar grunts slightly, as though the answer is obvious. "Friendship is about choice and chemistry. It cannot be defined." "But surely there is something more to it than that." And his friend was right, for friendship is a simple word that has an important meaning to every person who experiences it.

Having good friendship means having someone whom people can depend on in times of struggles and problems. It make one feel that someone always has his back, whether in good or bad times, the essence of friendship is always there. It makes one feel that he is never alone, and there is someone who will help him in facing trials in life. Moreover, having a friendship helps one to increase his confidence within his self, for true friends will always be honest to tell the truth and flaws of their friend. In addition, friends will make him feel that even though he has imperfections, there will always be people who will accept him the way he is, and the way he is not.

Meeting new people and attaining a good friendship can happen in just a snap. However, maintaining a good and healthy friendship is hard. It requires trust, faith and being selfless to maintain a life-long good relationship with your friends. Friendship needs trust to have honest relationship. Just like in a couple relationships, it is important to have trust with one another, not just to avoid lies and dishonesty, but also to be more comfortable enough to share one's feeling, thought and problem with them. Without it, friendship is useless. It is like having that person by our side but gaining nothing for us to doubt each other's characteristics and friendship. Just like what Stieg Larsson (n.d), The Girl With The Golden Tattoo author, said Friendship - my definition - is built on two things. Respect and trust. Both elements have to be there. And it has to be mutual. You can have respect for someone, but if you don't have trust, the friendship will crumble." Faith is also important in a friendship. Like in trust, it will take someone a lot of courage to have faith in the person. It does hurt when one breaks our trust or lies to us for no reason, but having the courage to give our faith to them makes it worthy to attain and have a good life-long friendship. Above all, friendship must lead to unselfishness. It is necessary to think and do what is best for one us, but it is also important to think for others because that is what friendship is for. According to Elie Wiesel (n.d), a Romania-born American novelist, "Friendship marks a life even more deeply than love. Love risks degenerating into obsession, friendship is never anything but sharing."

As what Muhammad Ali said, Friendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain. It is not something you learn in school. But if you haven't learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven't learned anything. Above all, friendship is a simple word yet hard to define, simple to attain yet hard to maintain. It is a word that has many definitions, based on how people see its meaning, importance and keys of having a life-long friendship. But when one finds a friendship to others, it will make his life worth living.

Jalzein's debut

References:

Robotham, M. (2007). The Night Ferry. Retrieved at: http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/2321022-the-night-ferry

Larsson, S. (2011). The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Retrieved at: http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1708725-m-n-som-hatar-kvinnor

Wiesel, E. (n,d). Quotes about friendship. Retrieved at: http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/1049.Elie_Wiesel

Ali, M. (n,d). Quotable Quote. Retrieved at: http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/19450-friendship-is-the-hardest-thing-in-the-world-to-explain