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Throughout all of history, many sayings, quotes and adages have been written about friendship. From the Danish proverb "The road to a friend's house is never long," to John Lennon's verse, "I get by with a little help from my friends," words have always been used to describe the greatest and most valued of our life's relationships.

When we are unable to find just the right words to describe the value of our friendships, we rely on the words of others. Elbert Hubbard has given us the best description of friendship with "A friend is one who knows all about you, and likes you anyway." Our true friends know our best and worst qualities.

Knowing all about us and liking us anyway, is one way the words of others can be used to help us characterize our friendships. We can even use words of Winnie the Pooh and his friend Piglet to help us define what friendship really means to us:
"Pooh?" he whispered.
"Yes, Piglet?"
"Nothing," said Piglet, taking Pooh's paw. "I just wanted to be sure of you."

We want to "be sure" of our friends. We depend on them, as they depend on us. As the old Latin proverb says, "A friend in need is a friend indeed," we rely on our friends. But our friendships must be give and take. True friendship brings an equality which surpasses social status, money, time and age. Albert Camus described this desire for equity in friendship when he wrote "Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow; don't walk behind me, I may not lead; walk beside me, and just be my friend."

Like part of the Girl Scout motto says, "Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other's gold," it is very likely we will have two types of friends during our lifetime. We will have new friends and old friends, but both types of friends should be considered valuable commodities.

For some of us, finding the right words to describe our friends and our friendships is difficult. During these times we can turn to the words of others to help us describe and better understand our feelings. Throughout our life, we have many needs. Bette Midler sings of one of the necessities, "Cause you got to have friends."

Learn more about this author, P. D. Frazier.
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