When I think of the word 'friend' I can't help but refer to the conditioning media has given us up until this point in our lives. From the womb we are fed fictional characters; cartoons with unrealistic expectations like dying for one another, girls who bitch and whine but end up best friends, fairytales with wild impossibilities and perfect endings. But the truth is, there is never a perfect ending and even after being exposed to this throughout most of our childhood lives we still cannot properly define the meaning of the word 'friend.' And if we can, we certainly cannot live by it.
This tech-savvy generation we live in had made the freedom of opinion and observation too accessible and vulnerable. Facebook has given us the option of virtually befriending someone, which potentially can give you more opportunity to get information then the people themselves are willing to give. Instagram, Twitter and Tumblr let you follow people. Follow. We have all this access with no privacy, no boundaries, no rules. We sit behind screens and silently judge with every photo that gets uploaded, every text post that gets created, every comment that gets shared. You're probably sitting there right now, claiming you're not guilty of this, but the truth of the matter is we are all guilty but we will share no real consequence. It has made us detach from the reality of what friendship really is. When I think of the kind of friends I want, I think of someone who has your back no matter the circumstance, someone who will willingly follow you up shit creek so you're no alone, someone who doesn't degrade you or tell you you're wearing your hair wrong, someone will will answer your calls at 3am in the morning and listen to your incoherent sobs, someone who will have a shoulder for you to cry on at any time of the day. It is hard: it is hard to find someone who will do all of those things for you and it may take a lot of failed attempts to find one. But when you do, oh boy, am I happy for you.
c.w.b
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