Rely on friends through turgid waters of life :- What should be the relationship between the true friends ,I sometimes ponder.Are we supposed to be diplomatic with them or should we speak out the truth even if it is means risking that friendship. A generation ago,that dilemma did not exist.
My fathers friend help themselves open for scrutiny among themselves;many sought well meaning advice from each other.
A friend was a friend forever because the bond of friendship strech across the generation - my dad's
parents would know his friend's parents and then it peraphs went back another generation.Now the equation has changed for many people,especially for the sucessful(personally I have expirenced friends are far better than relatives at times) .
The value of friendship itself has diminished and the role of a friend has undergone a sea-change.Rare is the one who seeks true friends for their advice,we often seek yes men in the form of friends as we scale the social ladder.The definition of friendship has also changed irrevocably as we do not have time and energy to store value by it and let the plant flourish.
A friend today in the urban jungle has largely come to mean a peer or a bussiness associate.And as we quit jobs and move on,we drop old friends and grow new friendships.But are these relationships actually friendships???
I sometimes think that these times are different;the world is changing at too rapid a pace and true friendship are not really needed.These days are of facebook friends and twitter relationships.Actually it is routine for youngsters to have 600 and even a thousand friends on social networking sites.I am agast as I wonder if all these are really friends? Can one be friends with a person one has never met or never seen?
Why do we need true friends in these days of virtual reality? Because as you will have discovered,we all need a constant north star to rely on as we journey through the turgid waters of life. In these daysof false values,false gospels and especially false friends,it is only a true friend who can give us a reality check and tell us when err.We need such friends as benchmarks and sounding boards.
Even olympic long-distance runners rely on a marker,who set the pace,for them to run a winning race.When Roman generals returned from victorious campaigns,they had a slave standing next to them in their chariots as they did a victory lap around the stadium in front of jubilant crowds and the emperor.His job was to mutter two words,"Memento Mori",in the ear of the general.They meant - you are mortal.It was an institution created keep the general's pride in check.
Genuine friends are comforting as they understand our silences,our moods and our hurts.But most importantly,we need them to whisper the magic words,"Memento Mori",through life.........
My fathers friend help themselves open for scrutiny among themselves;many sought well meaning advice from each other.
A friend was a friend forever because the bond of friendship strech across the generation - my dad's
parents would know his friend's parents and then it peraphs went back another generation.Now the equation has changed for many people,especially for the sucessful(personally I have expirenced friends are far better than relatives at times) .
The value of friendship itself has diminished and the role of a friend has undergone a sea-change.Rare is the one who seeks true friends for their advice,we often seek yes men in the form of friends as we scale the social ladder.The definition of friendship has also changed irrevocably as we do not have time and energy to store value by it and let the plant flourish.
A friend today in the urban jungle has largely come to mean a peer or a bussiness associate.And as we quit jobs and move on,we drop old friends and grow new friendships.But are these relationships actually friendships???
I sometimes think that these times are different;the world is changing at too rapid a pace and true friendship are not really needed.These days are of facebook friends and twitter relationships.Actually it is routine for youngsters to have 600 and even a thousand friends on social networking sites.I am agast as I wonder if all these are really friends? Can one be friends with a person one has never met or never seen?
Why do we need true friends in these days of virtual reality? Because as you will have discovered,we all need a constant north star to rely on as we journey through the turgid waters of life. In these daysof false values,false gospels and especially false friends,it is only a true friend who can give us a reality check and tell us when err.We need such friends as benchmarks and sounding boards.
Even olympic long-distance runners rely on a marker,who set the pace,for them to run a winning race.When Roman generals returned from victorious campaigns,they had a slave standing next to them in their chariots as they did a victory lap around the stadium in front of jubilant crowds and the emperor.His job was to mutter two words,"Memento Mori",in the ear of the general.They meant - you are mortal.It was an institution created keep the general's pride in check.
Genuine friends are comforting as they understand our silences,our moods and our hurts.But most importantly,we need them to whisper the magic words,"Memento Mori",through life.........
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