Day 19
friendship
Friendship has nothing to do with how many times a week we meet or how many years it’s been since we met. It has to do with moments of true empathy because we find it so easy to stop thinking about ourselves when we’re with the other. We find ourselves instead thinking about those concerns which concern us both. Friendship is an art that is quickly being lost as the word friend becomes an icon on your computer screen, as the text grows and meaning is buried deeper and deeper in the drivel. It is an art because it requires the same things that pure creative expression require: time, desire, discipline, love. Finally, it is an art because it justifies itself.
The best friends are often born of the most difficult circumstances, when our lives are laid bare and exposed and we maintain our dignity only through the kindness of those who we allow near. The frequent presence of the word “true” before the word friend is revealing. There are friends and there are true friends; the genuine article, the real thing. True friends never miss the worst days of your life.
Friendship is distilled down into little phrases, tiny ideas and diminutive sentiments because we all want friendship, but like much of what we want, we want it to fit easily and require little. But when friendship demands much and doesn’t come easy, we find its true value. We make friends, we don’t buy them.
This is the aspect of friendship that I most value: that despite the efforts of social media, friendship cannot be commodified. It is a true creative act, and I am grateful for the many artists that have mentored me in the art of friendship.
