A friend is one in whom you can see your ‘second self’

Friendship may mean many things to many people, but it is basically a bond of love that demands support, sympathy and empathy at all times, good or bad. I have a few friends who are as important to me as any of my close relatives. Close friends are the people with whom you are in touch every day. You are likely to get worried if you fail to hear from them on any day.

That kind of “bond” may or may not exist with relatives. The obvious reason: You take your relatives for granted because you tend to think that they will be there anyway for you. A true friend is there for you, always. He/She accepts you as you are. Not only that, he/she knows how to share, how to laugh and grow together even with all kinds of differences with you.

It will be no exaggeration to say that a friend multiplies all that you enjoy in life. There is a certain relinquishing of the self, of the inhibitions and doubts in the mind, when in the midst of close friends. And, as is said, a true friend comes first to share all the evils you are surrounded with.

American philosopher Henry David Thoreau said: “Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and the longitudes.” How true! A friend gives you space where there is none, love where there is hate, and support when you feel you are left alone.

We are all like little children, at times, needing someone’s support and help. It is in such times that friends are there to stand by you and see you through the difficult times of your life.

It was author and actor Isabel Norton who gave us these beautiful words about friends: “In my friend, I see a second self.”