The Friendship between Two Individuals - Essay Example

Friendship is one of the most cherished human relationships that are distinct in its subtle shades of trust, confidentiality, and love and strengthens over time. The friendship between two individuals is a very personal affair because they share their thoughts, feelings, and all sort of information.
The common adage that ‘friends in need are friends indeed’ truly applies to those who understand the meaning of friendship. They stick together through thick and thin and cross the bridge of adverse times with holding hands.
But like all good things in life, true friends are also difficult to find. It is especially true in contemporary times when the high-paced life of people has made them more materialistic and selfish. Double shades in friendship are rampant in the current environment of competition. It has also penetrated the realm of relationships where so-called friends do not hesitate to betray the trust and reveal information that is not only personal but is shared in trust. While treachery between friends was not so uncommon in the olden days, it has become a more frequent occurrence today mainly due to huge exposure as a result of advancing technology and new platforms of social networking.

Double shades in friendship broadly describe the dual personality of a friend who subtly uses his/her friend for his/her vested interests. In the guise of friendship, the person may reveal important information about his friend to the rival while overtly supporting him (his friend). The finicky nature of human beings is most unreliable when one’s interests are at stake. Recently, I found that one of my friends was responsible for leaking critical information about my business because of monetary benefits. When confronted with evidence, he said that he was facing a financial crunch and that he had done so only twice! He is, of course, no more on my list of friends. But such cases have become frequent because people are addicted to a rich lifestyle and are not averse to selling their friendship to the highest bidder if the financial incentives are attractive.
Nowadays, all associates and acquaintances are tagged with the label of friends. Hence it is important to realize who your real friend is and who is looking for your friendship with an ulterior motive. In the current times, social networking platforms have redefined the concept of friends and relationships. While previously, friendship was associated with personal contact where any two persons, be it of the same gender or different sexes, a married couple or those in an intimate relationship, mother and daughter, etc., shared their problems, happiness, worry, aspirations, expectations, etc. But now friends are made in cyberspace where confidential information has become public and trust has been replaced by a desire to gain publicity or personal benefits or even vicarious pleasure at the cost of others! Read More